Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎137v] (274/544)

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getting to Askabad and Krasnovodsk. The point was, what
advantage did we stand to gain by financing a Government of
doubtful authority ?
Mr. Keynes said that any promise made by General Malleson
had been made without Treasury sanction, and Malleson had, there
fore, been warned to exercise great caution in regard to such policy.
As regards the suggestion of the Indian Government, the idea ol
starting a new rouble currency in r Iranscaspia was^ hopeless, and
was most strongly deprecated by his department. I he view ot the
Treasury was that the matter was not urgent, as the Askabad
Government had recently come in for a windfall of 72,000,000 roubles,
which should serve to last them for a long time.
Colonel Gribbon said that the War Office was circulating to the
Committee a paper upon the situation in Azerbaijan, where they had
reason to believe there would shortly be a considerable influx of
Enver’s relatives and supporters. In view of this it was desirable to
keep the Transcaspian Government friendly to us.
The Chairman referred to the very confused state of affairs
which existed in Transcaspia and Russian Turkestan, and said that
our recent successes in Palestine, and the consequent withdrawal of
German and Turkish troops from the Caucasus westwards, rendered
the position on the.other side of the Caspian more favourable to us,
and there was, consequently, not the same necessity to conciliate the
Askabad Government, which appeared, moreover, to be a dubious
and rather disreputable concern.
The Committee decided—
That 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. should instruct Genei'al Malleson that the
change in the general situation rendered our previous policy
of keeping the Transcaspian Government going, of doubtful
value, and that he should, therefore, be strictly on his guard
against committing himself to spending money. He should
further be informed that His Majesty s Government did not,
in any case, contemplate any issue of notes or the establish
ment of a local currency.
(b.) Purchase of The Committee had before them the Government of India’s
Cotton and Wool telegram No. 13468 (E.C.—1812) cind a letter No. 41019 from the
in Transcaspia. Military Secretary, 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. to the Treasury (E.C.-1889) on the
subject of the purchase of cotton and wool in Iranscaspia.
The Chairman said that the Indian Government, in the former
paper, pointed out the possibilities of making considerable use of the
Merv-Turkomans for guerilla warfare against the Bolsheviks, and
suggested that perhaps the best method of countering the latter s
economic leverage was to let it be known among the Turkomans that
we were prepared to pay fair prices for all cotton and wool, if the
Bolsheviks attempted to interrupt this traffic it would put the
Turkomans against them \ if, on the other hand, the traffic took place,
we would get opportunities of establishing relations with the Turko-
mans which might have good resultant effects, while, incidentally,
Germany would be deprived of a certain quantity ot raw material.
The telegram further said that the Indian Government desired,
purely as a military measure, to authorise Malleson to spend up to
75.000 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. a month for this purpose. The letter from the India
Office to the Treasury stated that as at present advised the Secretary
of State for India was in favour of the course' of action advocated by
the Indian Government.
Lord Robert Cecil thought that the proposal really amounted to
another form of subsidy. He was not disturbed by the possibility
of the cotton and wool reaching Germany if we decided against
purchasing it, as owing to recent military events it seemed most
unlikely that it could ever reach German hands.