File 7251/1920 Pt 3 'Arabia: Situation and Policy; Agenda for Inter Departmental Committee Meetings' [‎301r] (239/268)

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[This PoGoment is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government.]
EASTERN.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 12980/166/44
[October 21.]
Section 8.
No. 1.
50/
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Aden, to Earl Curzon.—(Received October 21.)
(No. C. 33.) Q inor v
My Lord, Aden, October 8, 19-0.
I HAVE the honour to refer to the concluding paragraphs of the despatch
No. 75 dated the 10th February, 1920, from the High Commissioner, Egypt 'copy
attached), inviting my opinion as to the feasibility of introducing a customs an
HOd At the time this despatch was received my predecessor had under c ‘? nBldera ) t ^ ®
scheme for the imposition of a 3 per cent, ad valorem duty, as state in ® c °, nhiect
paragraph of his letter No. 502-C. dated the 2nd June, 1920 (copy attached), the object
of it being twofold, viz. : —
1. To pay for the local administration of Hodeida, which has hitherto been an
unfair burden on the British taxpayers. L t u a via waa minino-
2. To help the Idrisi, who complained that the free port 0 0 eu &
the trade of his ports Loheiya, Midi and Jezan.
The Political Officer was accordingly asked in May last to siffimit^mposalSiWith
an estimate of receipts and expenditure. An estimate prepai ^ civil
This shows that a round sum of 47,000 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. will be nee c * M ^ 1921 .
administration of Hodeida for the seven months fr 01 ^
In order to meet this expenditure it is proposed to m ^ t£s ending the
is estimated to bring a total revenue of oU,000 rupee ,
51st March, 1921) Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. .
(a ) 14- oer cent, dutv on imports by ea ••• . j
(b.) H per cent, on goods of foreign manufacture ° j [ 41 > 000
by land, i.e., all goods coming into Hodeida by land tro I
places outside the Yemen ••• 9,000
(c.) 1 per cent, duty on Yemen produce exported by sec .. •••
50,000
The revenue estimates are based on the act, ’ al /' eal ‘“ t ^'! l ct fmpoJteat Taif and
The import duty specified at (6) is ‘“T^j^d into Hodeida.
Khokha, at which port goods are landed f ree , ? a ^ 011 i v f or a 2 per cent, import
Mr. Steele’s original budget estimate, wine ta bl e s'of Hodeida, and several
duty, was explained item by item to tweive of e ‘ enditure items in the budget
alterations suggested by them were made an merchants themselves that a
were psssed by them. It was at the request of the^meren^^ ^ tbat a tax on
reduction of | per cent, on import duty was . Hodeida notables themselves
g,ods entering Hodeida by land was add ® d -, e T p“ lit | C al Officer for his services to
requested that the allowance o _o r l [ l P e ^ d that t bi 3 allowance be granted m
the town be provided in the budget I re ““ m hithert0 p ai d by Government to the
lieu of the special allowance of ‘ , political Officer will remain as
Political Officer at Hodeida. The actual pay ot t
hereto a charge against Government. nses 0 f the Political Officer’s office
The notables have also agreed to bear the expel ■ treagury . I do not propose
establishment, which will undertake the d,ltl ® s to the Adeu Treasury, as this
that this treasury should be in any way ,, t j Hodeida administration as much
ct
can be arranged. B
4508 x—6]