File 600/1905 Pt 2 'Aden Hinterland: Future Policy' [‎359v] (206/226)

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that punishment must follow an incident of the kind. The man was in our
service and travelling on our duty. The attack on him was made actually i n
Aden limits by tribal raiders. The mail bags in his charge were carried off,
their contents rifled, and the attitude of the tribe in their latest reply to the
Resident is one of unrepentant indifference and support of the offenders. Judging
the incident by the principles which were stated and apparently accepted in the
letter of December 1903 above referred to, His Excellency the Governor, in con
sultation with the Resident, has come to the conclusion that this incident cannot
he passed by and that it is necessary, having regard to the course of this and
other recent incidents, to assert a respect for our authority generally in the aroa
from Nobat Dakim on the east throughout the Subaihi country to the recently
demarcated boundary on the west. If that he admitted, 1 am to pass to the
question of how action should be taken. ^
5. It will be seen from the Resident’s No. 863*, dated the 11 th February 1906,
and it is also evident from experience in the case of
0 Submitted with this Gov- Boundary Commission, that it is too late to send
“he 23rfPebrX JmG.' terr j‘ 0r y th l S ^S 011 - The ?.° ld Weatller
has passed, the climate is very severe, the crops are
probably off the ground, the inhabitants of the region are, unless detained by
their crops, very nomadic in their habits, and an expedition at the moment
would probably be very expensive in every way and possibly ineffective, but
at the same time it is undesirable to delay action too long, and I am to
submit that it is possible to take immediate action, the effect of which can be
maintained during the hot months, wliich will reach the Attifi sub-tribe, and
which will at the same time serve our purposes mother respects, e. g., the arms
traffic.
6. I am, therefore, to recommend that the first step to be taken should be
to send out a force by sea and to occupy Ras-al-Arrah and Turan at as early a
date as possible. These places are the principal villages of the Attifi tribe to
whom the murderers of the postal runner belong. Notice should then be given
to the various sub-tribes of the Subaihi, whose conduct it has been necessary
to criticise, that, unless before November next they give satisfaction to the
Resident’s demands against them, further action will follow. Ras-al-Arrah
and Turan should be held under the civil control of the Assistant Political
Resident at Perim, and the occupation should be uti ized to obtain what
information is possible as regards the arms trade from Jibouti into that part
of the Protectorate.
7. The next question for consideration is as to the action that should
follow if the tribes are still unwilling to meet the Resident’s demands. Lliero
are two policies possible. The first is one as to which the Government of India
up to this time have not made any very certain pronouncement, which the Gov
ernment of Bombay would recommend, and which has been stated more than
once. I am to refer to this Government letter No. 30-M, dated the Ibth April
1904, which recommended that the most powerful of the Chiefs in the Hinter
land, the Sultan of Lahej and the Amir of Dthala, sho dd be utilised to carry
out our policy by subsidising them and giving them both moral and material
support as might be necessary. I am to point out that this is the policy
favoured in paragraph 7 of Mr. Fit z Maurice’s Notes*
Govemm^fetter’No 30 -VX^ oi c 190J '> a nd ^ is within the knowledge
dated the iSth April 1904. of the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. that it is the policy
which had the support of Colonel Wahab. So far as
the Amiri country and the North-East Frontier are concerned it has been adopted
in the appointment of Major Jacob and the instructions which he has received.
The matters under discussion in the present letter all arise in the Subaihi country
which falls within the sphere of influence, which in pursuance of that policy would
be assigned to the Sultan of Lahej, and the policy which the Government of
Bombay would recommend in the first instance to the Government of India
is to afford to the Sultan of Lahej that “material backing of Government’
the absence of which in the past led, in Mr. FitzMaurice’s opinion, to the
lailure of the policy when previously enunciated, as for instance by the Subaihi
Treaty of 1881, and on the necessity for which stress was laid in paragraph /