'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations' [‎152v] (310/540)

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business of the port. The figures of actuals cover 26 consecutive months and
have been carefully cheeked This check led to the discovery of some errors in
the statement forwarded with my letter No. 180 of the 15th April 19 m i i»
however do not affect the conclusions then reached. I venture to submit that
the figures showing the increases per centum for each period over that P re o e ^-
ing are Sufficiently striking in themselves to warrant fully my assert,on that
there has been an enormous increase in the postal work done by my office
establishment.
4. From letter No. 2036.Est, A., dated the 10th July 1911. from the Gov
ernment of India in thePoreign Department, to your address I gather that the
postal authorities consider the work at Kuwait extremely light and that its
execution already entails a loss to the Post Office. So far as I am aware th s
1, a,,. Pnst Office onlv Es. 240 per annum (the salary of the postal
ptJUJUL) auu ouuiv Wi
^e'^aSairittc^sR;. ^5^ ™ I confess that, without
further figures not available to me, the loss seems inexplicable in present cir-
work costs the Post Office only Ks. 240 per annum (thesalaryoiu.e postal
peon A low-ranking infantryman, orderly or assistant (South Asian context). ) and some of the time of the Postmaster at Bushire the rest of it being
performed by mv head clerk without remuneration. When the sale of post-
age labels at
further figui
cumstances.
5. There remains the consideration of the political reasons for which I
understand the project of a regular post office in Kuwait was m the maia
negatived. My office is treated by the local public exactly as a post office,
there is a special room for the work, and the usual red letter-box hxed m a
wall so that to all outward appearance there is already a post office, ana that
this impression prevails in Basrah and elsewhere there seems to be no doubt.
The formal opening of a regular post office would not attract particular notice,
whether notification to the International Bureau would be remarked upon
and noticed by the Ottoman Government in any seriously preiudicial manner
cannot be foretold with any certainty, but nothing beyond a formal protest,
and perhaps some of the usual allegations of the anti-British press m Con
stantinople, appears likely. On the other hand British protests m defence of
Shaikh Mubarak's rights do not appear hitherto to have met with such atten
tion as to make us sensitive to Turkish susceptibilities. Moreover we have
carried on the postal work in Kuwait now for over seven years, and presumably
would not regard with equanimity its transfer to any other hands. Further
the settlement of the American Mission, the increase in trade, the continual
growth of the town and its commercial prosperity make the matter of urgent
importance as affecting our predominent share in its trade.
6. On the merits of the proposal itself with the data available and sub
mitted herewith I would plead for a re-consideration of the subject with
the recommendation that the Post Office, should the Government of India
see their way to establishing one, may be an Indian inland office similar to
that at Bahrain.
7. In this letter I have not adverted to a former proposal with regard to
the retention of my second clerk for the work if a regular post office should
still be found infeasible, for the reason that (though my office work together
with the postal work will be beyond the capabilities of one head clerk) it is
now of far more importance than formerly in the commercial interests of the
town that a regular post office should be established without delay.