'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' [‎40r] (79/136)

' [This Document is the Property sf His Britannic Majesty s Government]
[4095]
CONFIDENTIAL.
r(C.P. 1777 )co 1
VV
h
ij. l
A MIDDLE-EASTERN DEPARTMENT.
IT is very desirable that, before the Cabinet separates, a decision should be
arrived at upon the question of the future departmental control of the Middle East.
Sir Percy Cox has pleaded strongly to the Cabinet against the continuance of the
present divided control. 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. has repeatedly appealed to the Foreign
Office to be relieved of a responsibility which must in any case terminate shortly.
No good administration can be called into being when it is supervised by two or three
De |)anraen t saUorri e pa^r^i aUempted to define what , in my judgment the broad
A principles of the new system ought to be. In order to bring matters to a head and to
obtain an early decision, I now submit definite proposals.
There appears to be general agreement upon the following propositions:
1 That, whether it be intrinsically desirable or not, it is now impracticable, for
Parliamentary reasons, to create a new Ministry for the Middle East
2. That, for physical reasons, it is impossible to create a ne^\ and detached
Department, because there is no space in which to house it.
3 That it is impossible to sever from the Foreign Office the countries or areas
which are at present under Foreign Office control. These are Turkey-m-
Europe and Turkey-in-Asia, the Caucasus, Persia, and Syria (in relation
to the French), "fhe problems arising out of these territories are in the
main diplomatic problems, and can only be dealt with by the Foreign
Office.
4 That the problems arising out of the remaining countries of the Middle East
are in the main administrative problems, and require to be dealt with
by a staff specially collected for the purpose. These countries are Egypt,
the Soudan, Palestine, Arabia, Aden, and Mesopotamia. They. are
the countries which should be assigned to the new organisation
5. For their administration it is probably desirable that a new Middle East
Service should be created. At present there are in existence an Egyptian
Civil Service, a Soudan Civil Service, and a Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Service, while
Mesopotamia is being administered by a mixed service, drawn from all
three and from the Indian Civil Service as well.
The number of British officials in Egypt will, it is believed, under Lord Milner s
proposals, be greatly reduced. . 0
The number in the mandated territories will be reduced as the native Govern
ments become less and less dependent upon the assistance of the mandatory Power.
Arrangements as to pension or discharge with gratuities will accordingly require
to be made. Whether Egypt and the Soudan come into this arrangement can only
be decided later. The remaining areas will in any case be sufficient to sustain a
Middle-East Service of their own. ,
If, for the reasons before stated, it is impossible to create a new Ministry or
sub-Ministry, two alternatives remain :—
(a ) To appoint a new Parliamentary Under-Secretary. Thm can be done
without fresh legislation under the New Ministries and Secretaries Act
of 1916; but it may be open to Parliamentary criticism as involving
an additional placeman and fresh expense. Further, it involves finding
accommodation for an additional staff of seeietaiies, tvpists, &c.
(b.) To appoint an existing Parliamentary Secretary as the head of the new
Department.
I think it is generally agreed, and Sir Percy Cox has argued strongly that for
the time being this Department must be placed in the Foreign Office, for the reason
that no other Department has the qualification, the expert knowledge, or the available
staff. The staff would have nothing to do with the Diplomatic Service, and would be