File 600/1905 Pt 1 'Aden Hinterland: Treaty with Dthala' [‎424r] (109/174)

-'45^
(Confidential.)
No. 29-M., dated Bombay Castle, the 18th April 1904.
From The Hon'ble Mr S. VV. Fdgerley, C.I.E , Acting Chief Secretary to 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. ,
, ^' 0 BANE^Bsq., Secretary to tire Government of India, Foreign Department.
I am directed to reply to your letter No. 464.E.A., dated the 10th Eebru-
ary 1904, in sc> far as it deals with the conclusion of a fresh protectorate treaty
with the Amir of Dfchala. In view of the importance of this matter, I am to
attach, for the information of the Government of India, the report of General
Maitland, the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Aden.
2. I am desired to say that His Excellency the Governor in Council
fully agrees in the recommendation contained in paragraph 6 of the Resident’s
letter, that the treaty should be as simple as possible and be as far as possible on
the same lines as treaties already concluded, and that being so, is prepared to
accept the advice in paragraph 9 of the letter, to leave the lease of land for a
sanitarium and for a railway thereto to separate negotiations whenever it may be
desired to really deal with that project. Similarly, the Governor in Coun
cil attaches weight to the argument advanced in paragraph 10, that a
specific clause providing for the location of a Political Officer at Dthala is liable
to be used undesirably by other tribes in the hinterland. The Governor in
Council is also at one with the Resident in thinking that if the Amir of Dthala,
who is the reverse of wealthy, is to be held responsible more than in the past
for the road from Hardaba to the Alawi border, it will be necessary to give
him some special assistance in maintaining order there, and His Excellency
agrees that a special portion of the stipend to be fixed should he ear-marked
for this particular purpose and is willing to accept the Resident’s estimate that
the amount so allocated should be dollars 50 a month. Passing to matters
in which His Excellency does not entirely agree with the Resident’s comments,
I am to say that the policy of the levy referred to in paragraph of the letter
will no doubt he decided on the more, general answer to your letter, now under
reply, which is being sent separately to you. His Excellency in Council, how
ever, * certainly never supposed that the 40 men who were to compose the levy
were to be a defensive force for the 60 miles of frontier which they would
patrol or visit. His Excellency presumes that the Government of India also
fully realised that the men were to obtain and supply earlier and better infor
mation of any encroachments on the demarcated line, whether actual or threat
ened, than we should otherwise be likely to receive. Taking the description
of the objects of the levy to be what the Resident has described them in para
graph 12, it will be seen from the separate letter above alluded to that His Ex
cellency in Council agrees with Colonel Wahab in regarding any arrangement
of the kind as liable to be considered an interference with the internal arrange
ments of the tribe and the responsibility of the Amir. So too he does not agree
with the suggestion in paragraph 8 of this letter, that the Resident should make
any direct payments to the local Sheiks for the safety of the boundary pillars.
Such local payments will no doubt have to be made, but Government must put
the Amir of Dthala sufficiently in funds to enable him to make them and must
not weaken either his authority or his responsibility by making them direct
As the Resident points out in paragraph 12, experience has shown in the past,
that all these local Sheiks have not been perfectly loyal, but in the opinion of
His Excellency the Governor in Council the first remedy that must be tried
and proved wanting before others are resorted to is the placing or the Amir in
a position of complete unquestioned responsibility within his recently ascer
tained boundaries and the providing him with means to effectually discharge
that responsibility by proving to the local Sheiks that their selt-mterest lies in
loyalty to him.
3 The result of these considerations is that His Excellency in Council
would recommend that the treaty be negotiated on the lines of the draft of the