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Coll 25/26 'Orders-in-Council: Morocco: Surrender of British Extra Territorial rights; Anglo-French Convention, 1937' [‎218r] (435/639)

The record is made up of 1 file (318 folios). It was created in 1 Sep 1933-3 Feb 1938. It was written in English and French. 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 DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
MOROCCO.
January 1, 1937.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1 .
W 46/46/28]
Consul-General Hurst to Mrl Eden.—(Received January 1, 1937.)
Copy
/
(No. 141. Confidential.)
Sir. Rabat, December 7, 1936.
ON the receipt, contemporaneously with my arrival at this post, of your
despatch No. 161 of the 14th September last, instructing me to submit any further
observations supplementary to those of Sir A. Ryan and Mr. Edmonds, which
might appear necessary as to safeguards against the event of the surrender of
British capitulatory privileges in the French Zone of Morocco, I invited the views
of Mr. Stonehewer-Bird, whose experience of Morocco extends back to 1923.
2 . I have the honour to attach copies of a useful memorandum which he
has compiled and with which I am in agreement.
3. My short stay in Rabat suffices for me to share certain opinions which
my predecessors have already expressed. British subjects, though many will no
doubt raise despairing cries when the time comes, are not likely to suffer great
hardships from the loss of jurisdictional and other special privileges which,
however pleasant, are now an anachronism. With British trade, on the other
hand, it is likely, whatever precautions are taken, to be otherwise. The
economic and financial situation of Morocco continues to be decidedly unsatis
factory An East India Company trading post. ; the budget is expected to leave a heavy deficit to be filled by whatever
expedients can best be devised, the harvest has again been disastrous, trade and
industry are sluggish, wholesale and retail prices are steadily rising and Moorish
nationalism is stirring uneasily. The limitations imposed by the Act of Algeciras
are becoming progressively more irksome for a mother country which has poured
much money into Morocco, which will have to provide much more, and which is
struggling in return to increase by any means which are likely to succeed the
lion’s share of the Protectorate’s imports which she already holds. The Pro
tectorate attitude towards British interests has for some years past—-and
especially since the arrival of M. Ponsot—become progressively more intransigent
and unaccommodating, and apt to whittle away the British trade share.
4. Since the peak year of 1929, when both imports and the United Kingdom
share therein reached their highest levels (respectively 2,547,430,000 and
260.216,000 fr.) there has been a progressive falling off year by year both in the
total imports and in the United Kingdom figures and proportion (1930, 193 million
francs or 8-7 per cent.; 1931, 176 million or 8-5 per cent.; 1932, 136 million or
7-6 per cent.; 1933, 94 million or 5-9 per cent.; 1934. 58 million or 4-4 per cent.;
1935, 49 million or 4-3 per cent.). The devaluation of the franc is now likely to
make the British task, suffering already from the Japanese competition of the
past years, still harder. Measures for safeguarding what is left of our imports
are suggested in the enclosure to this despatch and in the two previous memoranda
referred to in paragraph 1 , nor can I think of any further proposals likely to
be of material use.
5. The president and two members of the British Chamber of Commerce m
Casablanca called on me on the 4th instant to enquire whether I had any infor
mation as to the impending abolition of the Capitulations, and to express their
grave concern at such a possibility. The position of British merchants in
Morocco would, the deputation said, become untenable in such an eventuality;
they would all have to close their businesses and leave the country. I demurred
at such an extreme picture. I said that no request had yet been made by the
French Government nor could I say if, or when, it might be advanced. The
Chamber would doubtless bear in mind that, when the time came, His Majesty’s
Government had undertaken to consult them. I suggested that, had they not
already tabulated their proposals—the possibility of the disappearance of British
1 capitulatory right was no new matter, but extended back a number of years—
they might wish to do so, and bring them up to date at occasional intervals.
[912 a—1]
B

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Content

Correspondence, minute papers, drafts, and notes relating to the surrender of British extraterritorial rights in the French zone of Morocco. Much of the early papers cover the interdepartmental discussion between 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. , Foreign Office, Board of Trade, Dominions Office, Colonial Office, Department of Overseas Trade, and the Government of India (Foreign and Political Department) over the need to address the question of British rights in Morocco and what similar surrenders might be extracted from the French in exchange. Memoranda on this subject are included (folios 289-303 and 305-312).

The majority of the file deals with the drafting of a convention between the two powers to cover all related matters. Further correspondence with the Governments of the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State, and Canada, as well as the British Merchants' Morocco Association, is included as part of this process. A copy of the convention, signed in July 1937, is contained in the file (folios 76-93), along with a number of drafts.

The need for and drafting of a new Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. is also a matter covered by the papers. A copy of The Morocco (French Zone) Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. , 1937 is found on folios 7-8.

Correspondence with the Postal Services Department of the General Post Office and the British Consulate General in Rabat regarding the closure of British Postal Agencies in Fez and Rabat is also included.

Extent and format
1 file (318 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged in chronological order from the back to the front.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 319; 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.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 25/26 'Orders-in-Council: Morocco: Surrender of British Extra Territorial rights; Anglo-French Convention, 1937' [‎218r] (435/639), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3331, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100058739705.0x000026> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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