Pol Ext 8078/49 'Visit of Royal Indian Navy ships to East African ports, Seychelles, Mauritius and Aden' [‎36r] (72/111)

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16959/88
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
THE ^ECFETARIAT, -
DAR-ES-Salaam.
23rd June, 1949
My dear Cohen,
Will you please refer to your personal and confidential
letter No, 46503/217/49 of the 4th April, regarding the visit of
the Royal Indian Naval Squadron here, I am afraid it was not
possible to give a reply before the start of the cruise, and so
it seemed best to wait until after the visit was over to let you
know how it went off.
The social reception of the officer^&nd men in clutB,etc,
was everything that could be desired with, I am sorry to say, the
sole exception of the Dar es Salaam Club, Here, despite
exhortations from Hutt and myself and from senior cormniteemen and
officers of the Club, both official and unofficial, a small
majority of the Committee remained adamant in their refusal to
extend the privilege of honorary membership to the Indian officers
Commodore Brown had been made aware of this while the Squadron
[ was lying at Zanzibar, and I discussed it with him myself on two
or three occasions, I think he and his officers, whom he had, of
course, informed of the situation, appreciated the difficulty in
which we found ourselves, and there was no suggestion of any
incident or ill-feeling arising out of the matter. The officers
were entertained at the Gymkhana Club, at many Indian clubs, and
at Government House, and were made honorary members of the K.A. R.
Mess: I can only hope that the Dar es Salaam Club having seen the
type of men they were, will be less prejudiced on the occasion of
a future visit.
In our opinion the visit was a great success: the ships 1
officers and men were very popular with all communities and the
behaviour of the ratings on shore was admirable, I attach a copy
of a letter from Commodore Brown, written at the close of the
visit, which I have reason to think expresses more than formal
appreciation of what we were able to do for them, A leading part
in the arrangement of sporting and social fixtures, which
included matches against all communities and social fixtures
involving all races, was taken by a Committee of the Indian
Association appointed for the purpose.
You may also be interested to see the attached note on the
visit which was supplied by the Special Branch in Dar es Salaam
after the Squadron had left for Mombasa,
I may add that Commodore Brown more than upheld the very
high traditions of the Royal Navy and that his officers and men
clearly thought the world of him. He really was ^oing a
magnificent job of work, both for India and for the Navy, I do
not know whether it would be proper for you to pass this on to
the Admiralty,
Yours ever.
DEPT, I
(sgd) R. SURRIDGE