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1. 'Koweit'
- Description:
- Abstract: Memorandum, written by Colin George Campbell, 31 December 1900, about Koweit [Kuwait], including a brief historical introduction and detailed information for the years 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, and 1900. Topics discussed include Mubarak al-Sabah [Mubārak bin Ṣabāḥ Āl Ṣabāḥ] having murdered his father (Muḥammad I Al Ṣabāḥ) and claimed his position as Shaikh of Kuwait; the involvement of Kuwaiti subjects in piratical acts; a request by the Shaikh in 1897 for Koweit to be placed under British protection in a similar manner to Bahrein [Bahrain]; Turkish claims to Koweit; the decision in 1899 to obtain an agreement with the Shaikh of Kuwait not to 'cede, lease, mortgage or otherwise alienate or give for occupation any portion of his territories to the Government or subjects of any other Power without previously obtaining the consent of Her Majesty's Government'; Russian interest in Koweit and Turkish movements in relation to it in1899, including attempts to appoint Turkish citizens to posts there; German interest in establishing a railway link to Bagdad [Baghdad] which would include Busrah [Basra] and Koweit; Shaikh Mubarak's relations with Sheikh Abdur Rahman bin Faisal [ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Fayṣal Āl Saʻūd] and Koweiti involvement in the affairs of Nejd [Najd]; and the strengthening of Shaikh Mubarak's position with Turkey and the Porte since the appointment of Mohsin Pasha as Vali at Busreh.The margins of the memorandum contain cross-references to official correspondence with the Government of India and Foreign Office.An appendix to the memorandum, on folio 6, contains:Translation of Arabic bond, signed by Malcolm John Meade, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and Mubarak Al-Sabah, Shaikh of Kuwait, 23 January 1899Translation of Arabic letter, 23 January 1899, from Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm John Meade, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, to Sheikh Mubarak-bin-Sabah, Sheikh of Kuwait regarding the signing of the agreement as given in the Arabic bond.Physical description: Foliation: The foliation sequence consists of pencil numbers, enclosed in a circle, located in the top right hand corner of the recto of each folio. The sequence begins on the first folio, with number 1, and ends on the last folio, with number 6.
2. 'Kerman Mining Concession'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file consists of a report, written by the India Office's Political Department, on the subject of a mining concession in an area of the Kerman province, which is being sought by the Persian Railways Syndicate. The report provides details of the precise location of the area, and the mining rights which the Syndicate wishes to secure.The report goes on to refer to a counter-draft to the Syndicate's own draft proposal, which has been put forward by the Persian Government, and which makes various demands including certain exceptions to the Syndicate's mining rights, Persian control over building plans, and restrictions to each working area.The report also discusses an intervention, made by the Russian Government in June 1913, on behalf of the Société d'Etude (the international syndicate which was created to examine the Trans-Persian railway project), which suggested that there be an equal division of interest in the concession, a far as the neutral zone was concerned.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 112, and terminates at f 113, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
3. ‘[Persia and Persian Gulf] Concessions (existing and prospective, in which the Political Department has been interested recently)’
- Description:
- Abstract: This file contains handwritten (and in one case, typewritten) notes on a number of concessions relating to Persia and the Persian Gulf, in which the India Office's Political Department held an interest. The concessions are listed at the beginning of the file as follows:1. Euphrates and Tigris navigation (Lord Inchcape [James Mackay]);2. Mesopotamian oilfields (International);3. Mesopotamian irrigation (Sir John Jackson Ltd);4. Russian oilfields (The Anglo-Persian Oil Co.);5. Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]-Khorremabad Railway (Persian Railways Syndicate);6. Kerman Mining Concession (Persian Railways Syndicate);7. Baluchistan oilfields (Burma Oil Co. and Anglo-Persian Oil Co.);8. Mining concessions on the Persian Gulf Coast and Islands;9. Ispahan irrigation scheme;10. Koweit [Kuwait] oil;11. Imperial Bank of Persia's mint contract.Of these eleven concessions, notes on all except 2 and 8 are included. In each case, the notes detail the origins and current status of the concession.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 127, and terminates at f 142, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
4. 'Persia: Division of Charges.'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file consists of a note from the Political Department, India Office, on the division of charges relating to Persia between the British Home Government and the Government of India.The note recounts how charges have been divided between the two since the Report of the Indian Expenditure Commission (better known as the Welby Commission) was published in 1900. The Welby Commission proposed a principle of equal division, which was put into practice from 1900 onwards. In 1917 the issue of Persian charges was re-examined in relation to the costs of the South Persia Rifles and the Seistan Levy Corps respectively (the cost of the former was divided equally, whilst the latter was deemed chargeable to Imperial revenues).The note goes on to cite other cases that have recently required consideration: relief measures in Persia and the construction of the Bunder Abbas-Kerman road and telegraph line. In both cases the Secretary of State in Council proposed that the expenses be divided equally.The note concludes with a quotation from a note recorded by the former Secretary of State for India [Joseph Austen Chamberlain] on 22 June 1916, accepting the principle of half charges.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 157, and terminates at f 157, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
5. 'Quetta-Seistan Railway'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file consists of a report by the Secretary of State for India [Joseph Austen Chamberlain], which is addressed to the Prime Minister [Herbert Henry Asquith]. The report concerns a proposal, made by the Commander-in-Chief in India [Sir Beauchamp Duff], to extend the Quetta–Nushki railway to Seistan, on the grounds that it is a 'cogent military necessity'.The report includes extracts from a telegram and a minute from the former Viceroy and Governor-General of India in Council, Lord Curzon, dated 4 September 1899 and 28 October 1901, which summarise the history of the proposed scheme and the various political, strategic and commercial arguments and counter-arguments relating to it.This summary is followed by two telegrams from the current Viceroy [Frederic John Napier Thesiger], dated 26 July and 29 July 1916 respectively. The first of these summarises the current military case for an extension to the line (which was put forward by the Commander-in-Chief in India) as follows: any continuation of the recent Turkish advance into Western Persia may result in the Government of India having to increase its military presence in Eastern Persia, which would require improved communications between Nushki and Seistan; it is further argued that a broad-gauge railway – running from Nushki to at least as far Dalbandin – although more expensive than mechanical transport, would be a preferred solution to the current reliance on camel transport.The first telegram provides the Government of India's response to these proposals. It argues that the scheme can only be justified on 'cogent military grounds', before adding that the limitation of the extension to Dalbandin would be a half measure which would not provide adequate relief to the current situation, nor aid wider strategic contingencies.The second telegram details the Railway Board's rough estimate of the cost of extending the line (2,000,000 l).Also included in the report are the following three minutes:a minute from the India Office's Political Department, dated 27 July 1916, which refrains from expressing an opinion on the strategic implications of extending the line, but concludes that the commercial prospects would be sufficient to warrant constructing a line. The minute opines that an extension as far as Dalbandin would be the more practical of Duff's two proposals;a minute, dated 28 July 1916, in which the Military Secretary to the India Office, General Sir Edmund Barrow GCB, makes the argument that the entire line would take one and a half years to build, and that therefore it is not likely to be of use during the present war. Barrow supports the Commander-in-Chief's suggestion of extending the line as far as Dalbandin, in the hope that it may be of some use in the war effort (the implication being that motor and camel transport could be relied upon from Dalbandin to Seistan);a minute from the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India, Sir Thomas William Holderness, dated 29 July 1916. The minute argues that a decision on whether to extend the line should be made based on the actual or possible necessities of the present war, and that future political, commercial or strategic requirements should not come into consideration.The Secretary of State for India begins the report with an extract from a private telegram, dated 25 July 1916, from the Viceroy to the Secretary of State for India, in which the Viceroy suggests that the matter requires the advice of the Chief of Imperial General Staff (Sir William Robert Robertson).The Secretary of State for India informs the Prime Minister that an immediate decision is required on the following:whether an extension of the line is a 'cogent military necessity', which should be undertaken at once;whether the extension can be carried out in time to be of use for the purposes stated by the Commander-in-Chief;whether an extension to Dalbandin would be sufficient.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 8, and terminates at f 13, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
6. 'British Loan to Persia of £2,000,000 (August 1919).'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file consists of a report from the Political Department, India Office. The report relates to the Anglo-Persian Agreement of August 1919, to which was attached an agreement for the British Government to grant Persia a loan of 2,000,000 lsterling, at an interest rate of 7 per cent. The report provides extracts from these agreements before addressing the question of whether existing subsidies to the Persian Government (including a subsidy for general administrative expenditure, a subsidy for the maintenance of the Persian Cossack Division, a personal payment to the Shah, and a subsidy for the maintenance of a force in Khorassan 'to guard against a possible Bolshevik invasion') should be regarded as advances out of the aforementioned loan. The report advises that the loan should not be diverted to 'improper uses' and that any such allocations should be cancelled. It concludes by stating that if the British Government intends to endeavour to promote the progress and prosperity of Persia, then it must face the necessity of continuing to finance the country while the process of reform is taking place, in addition to financing the reforms themselves.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 208, and terminates at f 210, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
7. 'Memorandum on the Financial Obligations of the British, Indian and Persian Governments respectively in relation to Telegraph Lines in Persia.'
- Description:
- Abstract: This file consists of a memorandum concerning the financial obligations of the British, Indian and Persian Governments respectively in relation to telegraph lines in Persia. The memorandum is divided into sections as follows:Jask royalty and claims for wilful damage (the claims in question being against the Persian Government);Central Persia line;Henjam-Bunder Abbas [Henjān-Bandar-e ʻAbbās] line;Arabistan [Khūzestān] telegraph lines reconstruction;Robat-Seistan [Robāţ-e Meshkī-Sīstān-e Balūchestān] line;Kerman-Bunder Abbas line.Each section provides details of the costs of construction of the line(s) in question, plus the amount payable by the Persian Government. For some of the lines, details of costs incurred by other bodies, such as HM Treasury, the Foreign Office, and the India Office, are included.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at f 211, and terminates at f 216, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.