"ملف 8/15 سلسلة الجزيرة العربية - ١٩٣٣-١٩٣٩" [ظ‎‎١‎٦‎٦] (٤٣٤/٣٣٢)

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would be necessary, while the fact that frequent changes of officers would
be inevitable wouldbe liekly to detract from the satisfactory performance
of the difficult duties which the officers would have to carry out if the post
were to have any value at all.
5. In view of the foregoing considerations Lord Halifax considers that
it would, in present circumstances, be preferable not to pursue the suggestion
further and would be glad to learn whether Mr. Ormsby Gore is in agreement
with this view.
6 . Copies of this letter are being sent to the Admiralty, War Office, Air
Ministry, India Office and Treasury.
(19)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter dated 27th February 1937.
Letter froiu Foreign Office, London, to the Right Hon’ble Sir Ft?™
Drummond, Rome, No. 182, dated 24th February 1937.
The Counsellor of the Italian Embassy called here on the 3rd Februarv
m order to discuss Anglo-Italian relations in the Red Sea area He said that
the Italian Government had been rendered uneasy at the recent journeys of
Captain Seager (the British frontier officer on the Aden-Yemeni frontier)
from Aden to Sana a and of Mr. Philby to the Hadhramaut. Signor Crolla
seemed rather confused about these journeys and at times spoke of Mr Philbv’s
3 M Ur S t( V th , e CO A St of r the Persian Gulf where ’ as was explained to him.
r. 1 hilby had not been for many years. But it appeared that the reference
to these journeys was merely intended to introduce the subject, and that the
real object of his visit was to say that Italy relied entirely on and held firmly
to the Borne understanding of 1927, and to express the hope that His Majesty’s
Government themselves were prepared to continue equally to base themselves
on that instrument.
, T . 2 : 8i « nor Crolia ; vas in reply that it must be self-evident that His
Majesty s Government could have no ambitions in the Arabian peninsula and
and no wish to increase their responsibilities by adopting any kind of forward
po icy beyond the areas already under their sovereignty or protection Their
policy, as the Italian Government must know, was the maintenance of the
uKilUS QUO*
3. As regards the journeys to which Signor Crolla had particularly alluded
Captam Seager was, as the Italian Government were aware, the Brdish fron
tier officer on the Aden-\emem frontier. His Majesty’s Government had
no representatives m the Yemen, but the fact that they lid a common frontier'
with that country naturally led to the necessity for discussing various frontier
questions of common interest. In the circumstances it seemed entire^
natural that Captain Seager should go to Sana’a from time to time the
ordinary course of his work as a frontier officer, in order to keep in ’contact
with the Y emem officials. As regards Mr. Philby, it was no doubt univer
sally believed abroad that he was a British agent, but it must be sufficiently
obvious that such activities as his recent incursion into the Aden Protectorate
were hardly those of a British agent. Signor Crolla was then given a brief
account of Mr. Philby’s career, and told that the Italian Government should
not be misled by the ridiculous reports to which Mr. Philby’s adventures
inevitably gave rise. He eventually said that the Italian Government were
under no misapprehension on this point and did not take Mr. Philby seriously
conversation^^ am ’ h ° Wever ’ wh - v he had referre d to him at the outset of the
... tf ® ig . n °< r £ r ° 1Ia Was thcn toW that > while it seemed fairly clear that
His Majesty s Government could have no conceivable object in attempting
to extend their responsibilities in Arabia, the position was not so simpffi “f
regards Italy. Italy made no secret of having embarked on a forward policy
and whatever the attitude of the authorities in Borne might be it couM not
be denied that there had been a great deal of loose talk in local Italian military