File 869/1904 Pt 2 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa and Aden' [‎81v] (171/540)

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X am directed to advert to my
No. 6630, dated the 29th October 1905, with enclosures.
No. 2H5, dated the 14th January 1906, with enclosures.
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No. 1805, dated BonAay Castle, the 5th (received 16th) March 1906 (Confidential).
T? rom Xbe Hon’ble Sik Steyning W. Edgeblst, K.C.V.O., C.I.E., Chief Secre-
tary to the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. , Political Department,
rp 0 s ecr etary to the Government of India in the foreign Department.
letter No. 6694, dated the 19th October
1905, on the subject of the arms traffic
in the Gulf of Aden, and to submit the
marginally noted further correspondence
from the Resident at Aden dealing with this subject.
1 I am to submit these reports in full because they are referred to in the
report which the Resident has sent to the Secretary of State in response to
direct orders, of which report a copy was sent to you with my No. 1423, dated
the 20tli February 1906, and because these letters are referred to m other
reports from the Resident. It appears to be, therefore desirable that the
Government of India should have them on their records. But the letters of
October and January last to some extent cover the same ground and for
purposes of a general consideration of the subject might have been a good deal
condensed.
2. I am to offer the following remarks on the question after consulation
in Bombay between His Excellency the Governor and the Resident at Aden.
3. The present position in the Hinterland is described in paragraphs 8 and
9 of the Resident’s letter of October last, and in discussion the Resident has
laid great stress upon the fact that practically every adult inhabitant of the
Hinterland is already armed with firearms of some Eind or other, and, as he
reports, generally with a French rifle which has come by some route or other
from Jibouti or Obokh. The ProteeTorate is, therefore, in his opinien, lull of
arms already, and it is clear from the papers, which have from time to time
been forwarded, that arms can be purchased in the French possessions without
let or hindrance. Furthermore, it is obvious from the Besident’s letter No. 265,
dated the 14th January 1906, that, in the absence of very clear orders fiom
Paris, it is futile to expect any assistance from the French authorities at Jibouti
and Obokh to stop the traffic. It is rumoured that their recent experience in
Yemen has led the Turks to he much more strict in this matter than they
previously used to be, hut of this there is no certain information. It appears
from the interview with Commandatore Pestalozza, of which a note has been
submitted with the Resident’s letter No. 265, dated the 14th January 1905,that
the local Italian officers are somewhat lukewarm in adopting the measures which
the Resident at Aden and His Majesty’s Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief
of the Somaliland Protectorate are prepared to adopt, and which they consider
cannot succeed without full co-operation by the other signatories of the Brussel’s
Convention.
4. So far as the recommendations contained in the first twenty paragraphs
of the Resident’s letter No. 265 of the 14th January 1906 are concerned, these
are for the consideration of the authorities in London. Any assistance by the
other Powers in the region that may he given will, of course, tend to secure the
objects now under consideration, but so far as this Government is concerned it
is necessary to consider the situation simply on the basis above stated, viz., that
the Aden Protectorate is already full of arms, that the whole adult male popu
lation is by custom actually armed, and that there is an easy source of supply
within reach at Jibouti, and that there is no prospect of help from the autho
rities of that settlement.
6. I am briefly to refer to paragraphs 10—16 of the Resident’s letter of
October last, in which he discusses certain orders he had received from the
Bombay Government in letter No. 2107, dated the 31st March 1905, and in
regard to that I am only to say that the paragraphs seem to have been written
under a misapprehension, and that as regards the provision of a supply of arms
in Aden, the Resident is in accord with the views expressed in the letter of
March last and that the Resident’s opinion on the suggestion which was made
to him in paragraph 5 of the letter he discusses will be found in paragraph 17
of his letter of October 1905. It is not now a matter which calls for further
discussion.
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