File 50/1914 Pt 10 'Persian Gulf: Lighting and Buoying; Supply of Lighthouse Tender; the Nearchus' [‎38r] (80/470)

ENCLOSURES,
ENCLOSI
1 :—India O ffice to Foreign Office
for Foreign Affairs, copy of a telegram'"
* Dated Idth November Ibid. from the Viceroy suhmitting recommenda
tions in regard to the complement of the tender which entail an increase of
Es. 0,962 (664?. 2s. Sd.) on the sanctioned estimate (5,000?. -- Us. 75,000 per
annum ) for total recurring expenditure in connection with the vessel.
The Secretary of Statehn Council is satisfied that the complement proposed
by the Government of India is reasonable and could not be reduced without
loss of efficiency ; and, as the Government of India have since pressed lor
early orders on the subject, he has sanctioned their recommendations in
anticipation of Sir E. Grey’s concurrence. His Lordship trusts that in the
circumstances the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury will agree to bear halt
the additional recurring cost involved, viz. 532?. Is. 4c?. per annum.
I am to add that the Secretary of State in Council recently sanctioned,
without previous reference to your Department, further additional expenditure
to the estimated amount of 1 , 200 ?. initial and 100 ?. per annum, recurring, lor
the installation of wireless telegraphy on the lighthouse tender. A iurtoer
outlay, probably not exceeding 100 ?. in all, will also be incurred on account of
the wages, return passage, &c. of a wireless operator who is accompanying the
Nearelms on her outward journey as far as Bombay. 1 he importance of
equipping the vessel with wireless was strongly impressed upon the Secretary
of State both by the Government of India and by his own technical advisers;
and the advantages of such an arrrngement scarcely admit ol dispute. _ But
His Lordship greatly regrets that the item was not included in the original
estimate, and was not brought to his notice until the construction of the
vessel was on the point of completion, when it was impossible, without
serious delay and inconvenience, to postpone a decision pending a reference to
the Treasury In the circumstances the Secretary of State m Council saw i
alternative but to sanction the proposed expenditure on his own responsibility.
Further items of additional initial expenditure which it has been found
necessary to incur include ISO?, for improved arrangements lor the storage of
acetylene gas buoys, and 5027. 13s. bd. for insuring the vesse! agamst war
risks as well as certain smaller charges amounting in all to about 140?.
Vs a nett result, after allowing for the various increases enumerated above,
the total initial cost of the Nearchns may now be estimated at approximate y
o 7 oo ()7 or an excess of not quite 2,5007, over the estimates L>4,0007. plus
532? = 31,532?.), to which the approval of the Lords Commissioners o le
TvooVnrv was conveyed in your letters of the 22nd September 191 o No. 11,odd,
fd I I th Anril 1914 No 15,829. The Secretary of State m Council trusts
rtn view oAh explanations given in this letter, the Lords Com—ers
of the ilf aiury will accept a moiety of the excess cost, vrz., a snm of 1,2501.,
as a charge upon the British Exchequer.
The Under Secretary of State,
Foreign Office.