File 4744/1915 Pt 1 'German War - Arabia. The Arab Bureau at Cairo' [‎134r] (177/384)

i^oreipn and Political Peptt
Simla;
|j 24th June 1916
Pear Sir,
1b b. recent letter fforde ga?e me to under
stand that he felt that he perhaps was not as useful
in the *rab Bureau as he rdght be owing* to his want of
direct experience of ‘rrbia. and things rrbirn.
So far as Indian interests are concerned I think he is
doing excellently and his letters to m have been most
helpful * t the sarae time we want, ©f course, to assist
the rab Bureau as far as possible, and not merely to safe
guard Indian interests* It has struck me therefore that
possibly both in th*> interests of the Bureau and in the
interests of fforde himself, who my be feeling that he
is rather a fish out of water, it might be desirable to
send someone in ffordes place who has some direct know
ledge of Arabian and rabian affairs, rind this idea has
been strengthened by the fact that we may in the near
future want to give Colonel Jacob, our 1st ssistant
resident at den, a change of work and environment. He
has been some IP years in l den and on grounds of health
my require a change before long. You probably know him,
if you do not I may say that he is a very first class
Uie
officer with a uni ue knowledge of/Aden hinterland and
the Yemen, of whom successive Viceroys have held a very
high opinion. He is going back to den now for r few
months with a view to training an understudy, and it 1b