Coll 30/41 'Co-ordination of Commercial Intelligence: Method of Conducting Correspondence between the Political Resident and the D.O.T. in Visits of the Vice-Consul, Bushire, to Gulf Countries' [‎97r] (193/258)

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On the tour in question Sir Hugh Biscoe had a hired vessel at his
disposal which went from port to port, and so was able to take
Mr. Blanch with him at no extra cost to Government. The present
arrangement for my tour are that I travel by mail or sloop, or a
combination of both. The Vice-Consul would, therefore, have to
pay his fares on the mail, though I should of course be pleased
to take him with me on a sloop, if accommodation could be found
for him, and if our times of tour happened to coincide. The
return fares from Bushire to the States concerned are as follows:-
Bushire to Kuwait Rs. 76-rO-O.
Bushire to Bahrain Rs. 108.0-0.
Busgire to Muscat Rs. 27 O-O-O.
Halting allowance for a week 1 s halt in each State, between mails,
at Rs.lO/- per diem (the allowance under the Government of India
regulations for the touring of the Consul here) would come to Rs.
210, or a total of Rs. 664 /-, say £^0, or £100 for two tours, and
I suggest that if you approve. His Majesty* s Government might be
approached with a view to granting this small sum(£ 100 ) per annum.
5 . I would suggest that my proposal might be considered
as experimental for the first year at the conclusion of which a
decision could be taken as to whether the Vice-consul should
continue his commercial tours of the Arab side or not.
In order to meet the cost during this first year a sum
of £94 is available so that no additional expense would fall on
His Majesty*s Government for the first twelve months. The funds
in question represent fees retained, with the permission of the
Government of Iraq, for services rendered on their account by this
office between 1922 and 1927* As Foreign Office in their despatch
No.7(T877 0 /l848/378) ^ 14th August 1929 declined to allow the re
tention of any part of this sum by the Vice-Consul I suggest that
it could now be usefully applied to defray the initial cost of the
present proposal.
6 . The formation of a commercial intelligence centre at
Bushire will have the following advantages. The Vice-Consul would
be able to act as an adviser to the 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. on
commercial matters covering the Gulf as a whole. Enquiries from
the Department of Overseas Trade could be answered direct from
Bushire, where the information would generally be on record, and
it would be much easier to give that Department a complete * picture*
of the Gulf from the commercial point of view than at present.
Commercial activity all over the Gulf would be much easier to co
ordinate. Finally, once a quarter, or once every six months, or
once a year - whichever would be most useful, the Vice-Consul
could produce a brief Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Commercial Review. In addition
to commercial intelligence the Vice-Consul, on his tours, would be
able to discuss passport control and visa regulations as applied
on the Arab side, and the information gained would be most useful
for the better working of this complicated subject.
7 . In conclusion I should like to emphasise that the
Vice-Consul*s position would be in no way altered by my proposal.
He would still work under the Consul-ceneral, Bushire, and the
Legation, for the Persian side, as at present. Nor would his
absences on tour interfere with his routine work here. He could
adopt the same procedure as I do on my tours, that is to say,
visit a post on the Arabian side and return by the next mail, get
level with his office work here, and at the next convenient
opportunity visit the next post. I have talked the matter over
with Mr.Baillie, the present Vice-Consul here, and he is only too
willing/