'REPORT on the Working of the Line of Communication AND ON THE Withdrawal of the British Military Mission IN EAST PERSIA, 1919-20. GENERAL STAFF INDIA. [‎53v] (113/168)

SI
. „ f isam-.ers and Miners. In tins connecticn it may I,e
situation m ccmpani ® n '■ P me[1 ( 0 f an Indian officer to No. 5 Mechanical
added that the recen .In a cons picuous success. Very strong representa-
Transport Company ha ^ re eatu( j ) before he was eventually
lions on thesuhjectue exoerimentof forming a comparatively large
appointed. It rs hop^ that th^ «pen without ^ Indiail offic(jr) as tge
unit containing nearly . b ( . oramau der of the unit, will never he tried
confidential adviser ot the tintim
..i.i n nprta* n amount of elucidation is the exact
Anotherpomt ^hich officer or non-commissioned
status in military law o 0 performed by a commissioned officer’' r
Feirlotto > British o.rf.nt ..ftkct os .1. ofcr,
iersia nor 10 i .1 around that he was performing an officers
when drawing ex ra p y ^ ^ Commanding Officer. For instance, when
a warmaV officer wi placed in sole charge of Supply duties at Safedawa he
tls not allowed to place Supply and Transport tollowers under arrest or give
summary punishments. He had to refer such cases to the Officer Commanding
“ Whether this was or was not the correct ruling, it appears that some
authoritative pronouncement on the subject should be made.
The rule by which the Superior Indian Establishments of the Supply and
Transport Corns, and other services were graded for stauts as Indmn officers,
if they drew Rs. 50 a month or over, did not work very satisfactorily. Many
Indians, with little education and no social standings and no sense of military
or any other sort of discipline, were entertained as Supply and Transport clerks,
and since the demand for the clerks of any kind at one time exceeded the supply
many of these had to be paid Rs. 50 or over. But classing them m the field
as Indian officers was in some cases an insult to the regular Indian od 10 ® 1 -
Further, though the strictest orders were in force that British other ranks who
had official relations with Indian clerks or Indian Agents should show then all
the respect due to Indian officers, it was trying British ranks extremely hard
to enforce this rule on occasions when some of these Indian clerks and agents
failed conspicuously to live up to the official status which had been grained
them.
Camel management.
The need of a comprehensive yet convenient hand-book on camel manage*
mert had long been felt on the Lines of Communication. At the end of 1919
it was decided, as a provisional substitute to such a hand-book, to issue a com
prehensive order which should embody all previous orders on the subject
^including those contained in the original Lines of Communication Standing
Order dated October 1918) and should also contain any further instructions on
the subject which seemed to be required. Every animal transport officer was
given a personal as well as an office copy of this order, and to ensure his cons
tant attention to it, the first paragraph of it enjoined that he must have his
personal copy alw r ays in his possession and be able to produce it at any inspec
tion by the Inspector-General of Communications or Assistant Director, Supply
and Transport. It w T as, however, never intended to be more then a makeshift,
and its suppression by the Quartermaster General’s C{ notes on Camel Manage
ment ” was very heartily welcomed. In the first instance only very few copies
of these notes were allotted to East Persia, and more were at once asked for.
On their arrival they were promptly issued to all animal transport officers with
a special order directing their attention to such points as had not been dea
with in the Lines of Communication order above mentioned. The value of th ls
hand-book arriving as it did just when the three camel corps were to come
under the command of officers fresh from Europe, who hitherto had only beea
used to equine transport, was very great indeed. By its aid it became possible
to give these officers a short course of intensive training in camel managemen
that has stood them in good stead throughout the tenure of their comma 11 ^ 8,
199 CGS