Coll 1/77 'Appointment of an Indian Trade Agent in Aden' [‎17r] (33/52)

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Appointment of an Inaian Trade A^ent in Aden
—fio 9
May I refer to my letter of the 8 th June and
previous correspondence on this subject? We have
discussed the question with the Government of Aden
and are now in a position to give our views.
2. We have no objection in principle to the
appointment of an Indian Trade Agent provided that
his functions and duties are confined to trade and
commerce. We feel, however, that if he were also
to be allowed to look after "the interests of Indian
nationals in Aden", we would concede a wider sphere
of activity to an official who is not of consular
rank than we do to the Indian Commissioners. We
are not clear exactly what would be involved in the
term "Indian nationals", since we gather that this
is a constitutional issue in India on which no final
decision has yet been taken; but presumably it
might in certain circumstances mean that the Trade
Agent would be able to concern himself with
questions, political as well as general, affecting
Indians permanently resident in Aden which are
properly the sole concern of the Government of the
Colony.
3 . For these reasons neither the Government of
Aden nor we can accept the Indian Government^
F. H. CLEOBURY, Esq. ,
Commonwealth Relations Office.
/proposal