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Coll 5/10 ‘Air Route to India: Persia; Arabian Coast Route; Negotiations with Arab Sheikhs’ [‎104r] (218/800)

The record is made up of 1 volume (393 folios). It was created in 25 Jul 1931-25 Sep 1932. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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(THIS DOCtfrBNT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BAITANNIC MAJESTY^ GOVERI^iEMT) ,
^ Honeographed for the Committee of Imperial Defence, December,
SECRET*
M.E*(lvl) 11 •
STANDING MINISTERIAL SUB^COIMITTEE FOR QUESTIONS
CONCERNING THE MIDDLE EAST.
1931.
Copy No.
EASTERN AIR ROUTE .
Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Air.
1 . Since the last meeting of the Sub-Committee at which the question of
the Eastern Air Route was discussed, a memorandum (M.E.(M)lO) by the Financial
Secretary to the Treasury, dated 10th December, has been circulated. This
memorandum is necessarily a bare outline and may, I fear, unintentionally have
a somewhat misleading effect, unless it is supplemented by some further
observations which I will endeavour to make as short as the somewhat complex
issues permit.
£• Firstly, I think too gloony a picture is painted of the probable
expense. The figures quoted, based on a request by the Treasury for outside
maximum figures, are in the opinion of my advisers and of the Managing Director
of Imperial Airways, not likely to be reached. On the capital side the probable
maximum cost may be put at £17,000, or at £12,000 if the main item, a rest-house,
is, as has been suggested by the Poliii cal Resident, built by a local Sheikh and
leased to Imperial Airways. Here I should like to interpolate, in the light of
further investigations, a definite recommendation that tho Resident should be
instructed to negotiate on a basis of a rest -house rather than a rest -vessel .
Evidence is accumulating that a rest-house would bo more convenient and safer,
whilst it would undoubtedly be cheaper. As to recurrent costs (apart from any
subsidy to the Sheikh - for the payment of which approval has already been
given in principle), these will probably not exceed £15,000. The question of
extra obsolescence on the two additional machines involved in a mixed land-plane
and flying-boat route (perhaps £12,000 per annum) does not arise for at lea st
two years , and only then if, when the boats it is intended to divert to this
service become obsolete, a land-plane service is still impossible.
3. Furthermore, my colleagues should be made aware of an important point
that is not referred to in the Financial Secretary's memorandum. If Imperial
Airways are not allowed to fly over the Basra-Karachi section of the Indian
Route, the 'force majeure* clause of their Agreement, which runs to 1939, will
come into operation and entitle the Company to compensation for all direct loss
(excluding loss of profit) sustained by them. Judging by past experience when
an earlier service terminated at Basra, there would be practically no mail and
no passengers for India by the Air Service, and the compensation payable to
Imperial Airways during the period of interruption of flying between Basra and
Karachi might, it is estimated, involve a net charge on the Exchequer of £30,0
per annum, or possibly more, after allowing for the non-payment of the subsidy
(£38,500 per annum) allocated to that section of the India Route.
4. The use of a sea link between Basra and Karachi is, therefore, I suggest
financially impracticable. I need hardly emphasise how damaging a blow would be
struck at 'British prestige in the Middle East, if we were forced to resort to sea
carriage in the Gulf by. Persian intransigence coupled with fears as to the
attitude of an isolated^petty sheikh on the Arabian coast. Local native opinion
would be under no illusion as to the motive causes underlying our abandonment ol
the use of aircraft on this section. I would again, in this connection, remind my
colleagues that this is the key trunk air route of the Empire, which will sooner
The Resident has reported that the attitude of the Sheikh of
but not altogether satisfactory) alternative is very iriendly
Dibai (a possible
and helpful .

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Content

The volume contains correspondence, memoranda, and minutes related to a proposal to relocate the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Air Route (linking Europe and India) from Southern Persia to the Arabian Coast. The proposal is related to difficulties between the British and Persian governments over securing an extension of Imperial Airways' concession to operate in Persia. The volume therefore also contains papers related to the progress of negotiations between the British Government and the Government of Persia. However, the majority of the volume relates to the examination of the Arabian Coast option; this includes potential route options, possible sites for facilities, estimates of expenditure, and progress reports on negotiations between the Trucial Shaikhs – primarily at Dubai and Ra's al-Khaymah – and Hugh Vincent Biscoe, the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .

The volume also contains minutes of the meetings of the Official and Ministerial Sub-Committees of Imperial Defence for the Consideration of Middle Eastern Questions: 2 November 1931 (folios 226-35), 5 November 1931 (folios 217-25), 17 November 1931 (folios 175-82), 17 December 1931 (folios 89-102), and 15 February 1932 (folios 28-31 and folios 22-5). Related notes and memoranda can also be found within the volume.

A number of extracts from reports (dated 24 March, 26 April, and 25 September 1932) from E C Denison and D S McGrath, Commanding HMS Bideford , on trips to the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. can be found on folios 3-9; this includes details relating to the construction of the Sharjah Aerodrome.

The main correspondents are as follows: the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, officials of the Admiralty, officials the Air Ministry, officials of the Foreign Office, and officials of the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (393 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 395; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front cover, nor does it include the two leading flyleaves.

A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

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Coll 5/10 ‘Air Route to India: Persia; Arabian Coast Route; Negotiations with Arab Sheikhs’ [‎104r] (218/800), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/1955, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049269874.0x000013> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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