'Correspondence relating primarily to individual Forces, and not (with some exceptions) of general interest. Force 'D' ' [‎211r] (21/42)

which no exception has been taken by them. Please see in this connection
paragraphs 5 to 8 of our Despatch No. 129, dated the 26thMay 1916 printed
at 0f File No - 12 of Yolulne ]lr of Office prints 1 issued
m May 1917. lire arrangements proposed in that Despatch, with the amend
ment suggested m our Despatch No. 290 dated the 25th November 1916
( P a f e ^ ol 7 were approved m the Secretary of State’s telegram of
fwth b ebruary 191/ (page 21 of ibid), subject to a modification on a point of
detail. 1
a. Die pimciples aa Inch ve have constantly followed in determinino - the
incidence of expenditure which may benefit both the military operations in
Mesopotamia and the administration of the occupied territory mav be briefly
stated as follows :— - " • *
\ 1 ) D the immediate necessity for the measure on which the expenditure
is mcuired aiises piimarily from military considerations, we have
held that the expenditure should in its entirety be charged in the
accounts of* the military force, though the measure may also
benefit the local administration, either immediately or ultimately.
(“) If? othei hand, the immediate necessity for the measure
arises primarily from considerations connected with the administra
tion of the occupied territory, we have held that the expenditure
should m its entnety be charged to the revenues of the occupied
territory, even though it may help materially the military operations,
directly or indirectly.
4. This arrangement is, in our opinion, also satisfactory from the point
of view of general financial control. It does away with any possibility of
divided responsibility in respect of expenditure which might otherwise be
considered as chargeable partly to the military operations and partly to the
revenues of the occupied territory. About the beginning of the current
financial year we definitely laid down that, all expenditure falling under (I)
above should be controlled by the General Officer Commanding through the
Financial Adviser of the Mesopotamia Force, while all expenditure falling
under ( 2 ) should be controlled by the General Officer Commanding, through
the Civil Commissioner and the latter’s Financial Assistant, and should be
subject to the powers recently delegated to them in respect of expenditure
debitable to the revenues of the occupied territory.
5. It was in accordance with these principles that—
(a) We recommended in our Army Department Despatch No. 93, dated
the 10th November 1916, that the entire expenditure connected
with the Zobeir Bund should be charged in the accounts of the
Expeditionary Force.
(b) We are debiting to the revenues of the occupied territory, with
reference to our Despatches of 26th May 1916 and 25th November
1916 cited above, all charges of political officers employed in
Mesopotamia ; the charges of additional officers employed to meet
the requirements of the Mesopotamia Force, at places within the
theatre of operations but outside the occupied territory, e.g., at
Shustar and other places in South-West Persia, being alone
debited in the accounts of the Force ; though it is possible to
argue that a material portion of the expenditure of the political
officers in Mesopotamia, particularly the Secret Service expen
diture, is helping the military operations. 6
6 . The specific cases referred to in the telegram from the General Officer
Commanding, Mesopotamia, dated the 15th November 1917, and mentioned
in the letter from the Financial Adviser, Mesopotamia Force, to the address
of the Assistant Financial Secretaiy, War Office, No. 3213, dated the 4th
December 1917, were also disposed of by us in accordance with the principles
mentioned above. In submitting proposals for the division between Civil
and Military funds of expenditure on the repairing of the bank of the Sakh-
lawiyeh canal, the improvements in Baghdad West, and the military works
carried out in the Nasiriyeh district up to the 10th April 1917, the Civil
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