'Report and Proceedings of a Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence on the Baghdad Railway, Southern Persia, and the Persian Gulf' [‎24v] (53/332)

OHM
32
Second Meeting, (3th March, 1908.
That^’s ^^ Leie ^ 01e ^ ere is n0 case for appealing to India in the present emergency ?
the
pre-
u •.• 1 i 47 ‘i° f ? our ? e India would be very much affected, supposing the whole of
ritish shipping m the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. was transferred to German lines, by the pre
ponderating interest which Germany would then have got in any object like the
ag id ad Railway. The Baghdad Railway is a matter of intimate concern to India?—
res, it is.
148. And to Indian trade generally ?—Yes.
-I 4 ?! ' S() ^^^^^ly lndian interests would be very much threatened, would they
110 ’ 1 lc ^ 10 , e (d _ b 1 / 18 1 s ^PP^ n 8 ' (exclusive of the Indian shipping) disappeared
out ot the lersian Gulf and were to be replaced by German shipping?—Would it
mu e much difference to India ? I do not know whether it would. I do not think it
would make much difference to the Indian trade.
150. It would make politically a considerable difference if it weakened our claim
lor getting into the south end of the Baghdad Railway ?—Yes, politicallv it might. It
would do that. " ^
n i/W P resen ^ I understand our position is that we say we went to the Persian
Gull before everybody else, and nobody has done anything for the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. except
ourselves. We have made it a navigable and commercial route, and we have done
that entirely single-handed. That has a good deal of moral force as long as we can say
tha the great proportion of shipping in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is still British ; but supposing
t mt disappears, then all that we have done in past years ceases to have any claim at
ail, and it is something which is wiped out?—That is true.
152. Therefore the British interests in, and the British hold on, the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
would be tremendously diminished, and that would be a serious thing for India ?—
1 es, it would and I presume politically for England too. But India lias not asked
any one to help her m subsidizing the steamers running from Bombay to Basra, and I
Basra * ka0W Ellglaild should ask Mia to aid in a subsidy from England to
T r W E . xce P| that ultimately there is a joint interest; only you would say that
Indm has done her share ?-I think India does her share, and I think in the meantime
s le mig it be left alone. If it is necessary to help British ships to compete against the
byYdia ^ 16 U ^ think that might be borne by the Imperial revenues and not
154. I suppose there is something in the argument that, if India has done her share
I thfnYs tlUS ’ 516 might eXPeCt that H iS ° Ur t,,rn t0 d ° somet hing ?—Yes,
loo. Of the trade which India does in the Gulf, have you any idea how much is
Persian and how much is Mesopotamian ?-I should say 75 cent, is Mesopotamian.
y e g ' 1 assnme Mesopotamia to be the real objective of the German competition ?
lo7. So that German competition threatens nearly three-quarters of the Indian
trade ?—I do not follow you.
*1 15 1 8 ' ^ P cent '’ tllat is three-quarters, of the Indian trade is with Mesopotamia,
then about three-quarters of the Indian trade will be endangered by the German
competition, assuming Mesopotamia is the German objective ?—Yes if we have the
Germans coming down to Bombay, but we have not got that just now, and there is no
idea of that. The Hamburg-Amenka Company have told us, the British India, that
they have no intention of interfering with our trhde to Bombay, and that their sole
object^is to carry on the trade between Basra and Europe.
!59. Of course that was to isolate you for the present—to get your neutrality - for
the moment —I do not know that is quite possible. In the meantime 75 per cent,
of the trade between the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and Bombay is from Mesopotamia, but 90 per
cent., I think, of the trade between the Gulf and England is from Mesopotamia.
IbO. bo it is really a Mesopotamian question ?—Yes, it is.
161. Mr. Lloyd-George : I have got the figures here. The imports into the Gulf
from the Lmted Kingdom are : To Persia 551,0001, to Turkey (in Asia) 642,000L and to
the Bahrein Islands and Muscat 123,000/., making a total of 1,316,000/. Then
the exports from the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to the United Kingdom are : From Persia 223 100/.
'f arke y ( m ^ sia ) 758,000/., and from the Bahrein Islands 1,000/., or a total of
9ow,J00Z. therefore, as far as the exports of the United Kingdom are concerned
Persia takes almost as much ? -I was speaking of the trade from Mesopotamia.