Papers of the Mesopotamian Administration (later Middle East) Committee [‎11r] (21/80)

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There followed 602 ne discusaion as to The officials who should
br 0 upplied to form the nucleus of the dew Administration.
^ Sir A. HIHTZEL suggested that a "Seminder" telegram should he
c nit to Sir Percy Cox.
Sir ROHALD GRAHAM eaid the Foreign Office had prepared a list •
of suitable officials, all of horn had had a grounding of Arabic.
Hr. CHAMBERLAIN suggested that Sir Percy Cox might be informed
that the Foreign Office had compiled a list of men with the necessary
qualifications who v.ould probably be of use to him, and that he
night apply to London before he appealed to India. Sir Percy Cox
might be invited also to state more explicitly what his needs were.
Sir THOMAS HOLDERHFSS considered that men were required who
were accustomed and prepared to work under military conditions,
Mr.SHUCKBURGH stated that Sir Percy Cox was already aware
that men in Persia and the Sudan ./ere immediately available for his
purposes.
The Committee decided to recommend:-
(1) That a telegram should be sent to the Viceroy,
and repeated to Sir Percy Cox, saying that His
Majesty’s Government would be glad of an early
intimation of Sir Percy Cox’s views regarding
Officers to be obtained from Egypt; stating
also that certain named officers of the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Service already in Persia could be spared by
the Foreign Office; and ashing for fuller
details of the immediate requirements of
Mesopotamia in the matter of personnel :.
(2) That a telegram should be sent to the Viceroy,
and repeated to Sir Percy Cox stating:-
(a) That the promised despatch supplementing
the Viceroy’s telegram of the 27th April
was awaited, but giving an assurance that
His Majesty’s Government had not in view
the immediate establishment of an Arab
Administration on the lire s indicated in
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. telegram of the 29th March, 1917:
(b) That His Majesty’s Government recognised
that the military situation requires
that the Army Commander and the Chief
Political Officer should have a free
hand, but that, if possible, nothing
should be done during the military occu
pation that would prejudice the subsequent
introduction of an Administration on the
eaid lines:
(o) That the intention uae that separate
administrative systems should be estab
lished for Basrah and for Baghdad:
(d) That they concurred in Sir Percy Cox’s
proposal that the whole question should
be investigated by a Commission, which
should report thoroughly upon the regu
lation of Indian immigration, the institu
tion of Administrative Councils, and the
establishment of a permanent Judicial System: