'Papers relating to transfer of Middle Eastern Affairs to the Colonial Office and creation of a new Department there, 1920-1921, with Cabinet notes of Milner, Montague, Churchill, self, and others' [‎24r] (47/136)

necessarily fatal objection ; but the duplication of the Secretary of State’s personality
and functions would be a serious practical inconvenience. On every ground 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. is of opinion that, in the best interests of the public service, the task
should not devolve upon itself.
6. There remains the Colonial Office. It is clear that this Department, in its
present form and under its present designation, is not cpialified to deal with areas
which cannot by any stretch of imagination be described as “ Colonies,” and which
would undoubtedly take strong exception to such a description. It is, moreover,
very desirable that nothing should be done to encourage the belief that a mandate is
merely annexation in disguise. It is understood, however, that there is already some
question of transferring from the Colonial Office the conduct of relations with the
Dominions. If this transfer were accomplished* the amount of business left to the
Colonial Office would presumably fall far short of its capacity. It is suggested that
the vacuum might be filled with the Middle East, and that a renamed and reorganised
Department, occupying the present Colonial Office building, might combine the
function of administering the Crown Colonies with that of supervising the areas dealt
with in this memorandum. The Secretary of State for India would be prepared on
his part to accept transfer of Ceylon, which is becoming every day more closely
connected, racially and economically, with the Indian peninsula. A point for con
sideration is the difficulty that may arise if the Foreign Office continue to control
Persian affairs while the reconstituted Colonial Office deals with Mesopotamia. This
difficulty might be met to some extent by the maintenance, in some permanent form,
of the present inter-departmental Committee on Eastern Affairs; but the case of
Persia, with which the Colonial Office would not perhaps be very well qualified to
deal, affords an additional argument in favour of a new Department. In any case it
need hardly be said that the Colonial Office would require a new staff recruited from
those with special knowledge of, or service connected with, the Middle East.
7. But whether the work is entrusted to a new Department or to a reconstituted
Colonial Office, the need for consultation with other Departments of His Majesty’s
Government will remain. 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. and Foreign Office cannot disinterest
themselves entirely, by a stroke of the pen, in the affairs of the Middle East.
Questions will constantly arise upon which one or the other, or both, will have to be
consulted. Nor can the War Office, or the 'Treasury, be altogether eliminated. It
would seem desirable, in order to ensure co-ordination and the maintenance of effective
Cabinet control, to retain a standing inter-departmental Committee of supervision on
something like the lines of the existing body. But it should be clearly laid down
that the function of the Committee is to direct policy, not to interfere in everyday
administration. Finally, it seems essential that, concurrently with the creation of
the new Department, a new administrative Service should be organised for employment
in the Middle East. The present arrangement, by which the local administrations have
to depend on officers borrowed temporarily from any available quarter, is obviously a
makeshift which cannot be continued indefinitely. 8
8. To sum up, 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. recommends (I) that all the Middle Eastern areas
dealt with in this memorandum should be placed under a single controlling agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
in London; and (2) that that agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. should preferably be a special Middle East
Office, created ad hoc, and,failing that, the Colonial Office renamed and reorganised on
the lines indicated in para. 6. It is considered that the Foreign Office should be
definitely ruled out. Whatever Department may be selected, the retention of an
inter-departmental Committee of supervision, with functions limited to the direction,
of policy, is considered desirable. The creation of an administrative Service for the-
Middle East is also recommended.
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. ,
1 st J tine 11)20.