'Expenditure on Malleson Mission and troops in East Persia, 1918 to 1921' [‎2r] (3/34)

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8. On tlie 9th March 1918, the Government of India (Foreign Department)
reported— .
(L) that a Political Mission consisting of Major F. M. Bailey, Captain Blacker and
Captain Etherton, with some 10 assistants, was about to start for Kashgar
“ to enquire into local conditions and report on possibility of getting into
“ touch with elements in Russian Turkestan, with whom they could work
“ in allied interests and combat German and Turkish propaganda.”
(N.B.—We have since learned that this Mission has actually started
for Kashgar; on arrival there, it will place itself itself under the orders
of the British Consul-General.)
('2) that four officers, viz., Captain Bingham, Captain Bray, Captain Samad Shah
and Subadar-Major Mala Khan, were being sent to Meshed to work under
the Military Attache (Colonel Redl) as military intelligence officers, “ with
“ a view to investigate possibilities of despatch of military Mission into
“ Russian Turkestan.”
9. As regards the Meshed Mission, the Commander-in-Chief in India reported to
the War Office on the 12th April, that the following instructions had been sent to the
Military Attache at Meshed :—
“ Under your orders these officers will collect all possible information
regarding the situation in Turkestan and get into touch with notables and other
elements who could assist in such a Mission. Active propaganda not to be
undertaken without orders from here, and Turkestan is not to be entered. . . .
You should work in consultation with Consul-General.
The Commander-in-Chief explained that the Mission would be a military one. but
that, until it became evident that its prospects were such as to justify the employment
of a General officer, it was not intended to warn General Malleson {see para. 4).
10. Mission to Kashgar. The primary objects of this Mission are as stated in
para. 8. But it is also hoped that the presence of British officers at Kashgar will
tend to strengthen the hands of the civil and military authorities of Chinese
Turkestan, and to encourage them to deal effectively with local disturbances or with
hostile activities from outside the province. In this connection it may be recorded
that the British Consul-General at Kashgar (Sir G. Macartney), in a despatch dated
the 20th December 1917, drew attention to the danger of outbreaks of lawlessness in
the province, with which the local administration would be powerless to cope, and
advocated the creation of a force of local military police, nominally under the Chinese,
but actually controlled by British officers. As a preliminary step, he recommended
that a body of 30 Indian infantry, with three or four British and some Indian officers,
should be sent to Kashgar, ostensibly for the protection of the British Consulate, but
“ i n reality to form the nucleus out of which the military police would be evolved.”
Both the British Minister at Peking and the War Office have supported Sir G.
Macartney’s proposal. The Government of India, who were consulted on the subject
quite recently, have replied (20th April) that they are in communication with Sir G.
Macartney and will report further in due course. They state that Major Baileys
Mission has an escort of six Indian regulars as orderlies ; difficulties of transport made
it desirable to keep down numbers.
11. No reply has yet been received from the Amir to the A iceroy’s letter of the
10th January {see para. 5).
J. E. S.
Political Department, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ,
23rd April 1918.
2.—Memorandum by Chancellor of the Exchequer, dated 11th November 1919.
Incidence of the Cost of General Malleson s Military Mission now
at Meshed.
(i) On 14th August 1918 the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. informed the Treasury that the Viceroy
had, at General Malleson’s request, authorised him to draw on His Majesty’s Minister
at Tehran for such funds as might be required for Secret Service expenditure, to be
debited to the War Office.
The Secretary of State presumed that the Treasury would agree that such
expenditure, with all other charges incurred by General Malleson’s Mission at
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