'File No. II/12 Foreign Dept Memoranda of Information re: affairs in Persia and Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf. Jan '09 --' [‎50v] (100/178)

10
Mohammerah, the Sheikh was also coquetting
with Messrs. AVonckhaus in other ways. Sir
G. Barclay had accordingly authorised the Poli
tical Resident, should he think it desirable, to
insist on repayment of the borrowed £1,000 as
a first charge on the contemplated loan from
His Majesty’s Government. Sir G. Barclay’s
action was approved by His Majesty’s Govern
ment, who also directed that the Sheikh should
be made to understand that the advance of
£5,000 or £6,000 (vide paragraph 1 /, supra)
would not be regarded as including payment
for the proposed Karun irrigation concession,
the terms of which the Sheikh and the Con
cessionaires would settle between themselves
later.
13, The Sheikh of Mohammerah informed
Reported despatch of His Majesty s Consul in
Turkish gun-boats to April last that he had
Mohammerah. beard that the Turkish
Government were sending three gun-boats to
the Shat-el-Arab and that they were destined
for use against Mohammerah. He therefore
reminded Mr. McDouall of the assurances
given him by the British Government against
foreign attack (see paragraph 17 of the Memo
randum for January 1909). Mr. McDouall
ascertained from His Majesty’s Consul at
Basrah that it was a fact that three vessels
were being sent by the Turkish Govern
ment, but that, as far as he was aware, it was
only with the object of patrolling the Shat-el-
Arab to prevent piracy and not with any
design against Persian territory.
14. ( Vide paragraph 11 of the Memo-
Henj am-Bunder randum for February
Abbas cable. 1.908.) In March 1909
Sir G. Barclay reported the settlement of
the difficulties regarding the location of the
telegraph office and cable house of the wire
connecting Henjam and Bunder Abbas, by
the conclusion of an agreement between the
Persian Minister of Telegraphs and the Indo-
European Telegraph Department, whereby a
line was carried from the cable house, where
the cable is landed, to the telegraph office of
the Department at the British Consulate and
thence to the Persian Office in the town.
There are, however, difficulties in the way of
opening the line to the general public, as the
Persian telegraph clerk is unable to send or
receive messages in the Roman character, and
is, moreover, incapable of keeping the com
plicated system of accounts required by the
International Telegraphic Bureau. His
Majesty’s Consul at Bunder Abbas has sug
gested that, in order to open the line
with as little delay as possible, the wire
should be treated as part of the Indo-European
Telegraph system for the present, and that the
British Postmaster should be authorised, with
the concurrence of the Persian Government, to