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'Memorandum on the Indo-European Telegraph Department and Narrative of Events to the end of 1898' [8r] (15/20)
The record is made up of 1 file (10 folios). It was created in 24 Jul 1899. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
15
settled quarterly. The liquidation and payment of the surplus which may
be due to either administration shall take place at the close of each quarter.
The accounts of each administration shall enumerate only the rates in debit:
they shall be drawn up by the Ottoman Administration in francs and
centimes, the total being reduced to shillings and pence; and by the British
Administration in shillings and pence, the total being reduced to francs and
centimes.
The reduction of these sums shall be calculated at the rate of
1 pound sterling = 25 francs.
1 shilling = 1 franc 25 centimes.
1 penny := 10 centimes.
XII. The balance which may accrue from the quarterly liquidation, in
favour of one or other of the administrations, may be paid either in Turkish
pounds, in pounds sterling, or in 20-franc pieces. Should the balance be in
favour of the Indian Administration, payment shall be made by Turkey into
the hands of the delegate of that Administration at Constantinople; and
should it be in favour of the Ottoman Administration, payment shall be
made by the aforesaid delegate to the- Director-General of the Ottoman
telegraphs.
XIII. In order to facilitate and accelerate the operations relating to the
reciprocal settlement of the quarterly accounts with the Central Admi
nistration of Ottoman telegraphs, the Indian Government shall be entitled
to appoint a delegate to reside at Constantinople, the seat of that Admi
nistration. The Ottomam Government shall likewise be entitled to name a
delegate for the same purpose, to reside at the seat of the Central Telegraphic
Administration of the Indian Government. The respective delegates shall
be entitled to receive from the respective Central Administrations all the
information and explanations which they may require.
XIY. All messages to or from India may be forwarded indifferently, as
may be most oonvenient for the service, either by the line of Bussorah or by
that of Khanakain.
XV. It is well understood that the Ottoman Government shall be in
account current and shall have direct administrative relations with the
Government of India in respect to all messages, whether sent by the nontier
of Eao or by the Persian route of Khanakain. Thus the two contracting
Governments shall not be in account current and shall not have direct
administrative relations with Persia except in respect to payment foi those
messages only which shall have traversed the lersian lines 5 so that as
regards Indo-European messages, the two High Contracting Parties shall
only account to the Persian Government for the amount due to it for their
transit along the Persian lines between Khanakain and Bushire.
XVI. The present Convention shall come into operation as soon as the
submarine cable shall be in communication with the land lines of Turkey and
of India, and shall remain in force for three years from the day on which the
ratifications are exchanged. Nevertheless, the High Contracting Parties may
introduce into it, according as necessity may require, such modifications as
may be considered bv common agreement to be useful and indispensable.
At the end of three years the present Convention shall be deemed to be in
force for an indefinite term, and until the expiration of six months, reckoning
from the date on which either of the parties shall have made known to the
other its intention to put an end to the same.
XVII. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall
be exchanged at Constantinople as soon as possible.
Done at Constantinople on the 3rd day of September 1S6I.
(l.s.) Henry Lytton Bulwer.
(l.s.) Aali.
About this item
- Content
The memorandum concerns telegraphic communication between Britain and India, with a particular focus on the telegraph lines routed via the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region, and therefore the Indo-European Telegraph Company. It was authored by Benjamin Traill Ffinch, Director-in-Chief of the Indo-European Telegraph Department; a department of the Government of India.
It outlines how the telegraph lines through the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. developed over time, and the concessions granted by various governments to permit their establishment. It also notes how charges have varied over time, and how various international telegraph conferences have affected them. It also explains the rise of competition — over traffic to India — between the Indo-European Telegraph and the Eastern Telegraph companies, and how this led to the signing of the Joint Purse Agreement between them. It also explains that the interests of the Indo-European Telegraph Company and the Indo-European Telegraph Department have diverged. It therefore claims that the prevailing circumstances make it very difficult for the Government of India to push down prices.
An appendices section is included with the following content:
- 'No. 1 Convention between Great Britain and Turkey for the establishment of Telegraphic communication between India and the Ottoman Territory'. 3 September 1864, ff 7-8;
- 'No. 2 Memorandum on Tariffs between Europe and India', f 8v;
- 'No. 3 Tariffs to India and beyond from 1863 to present time', f 9;
- 'No. 4 Statement showing Traffic Receipts of Departments from October 1864 to 31st March 1898', ff 9v-10.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (10 folios)
- Arrangement
The main body of the memorandum is located on folios 1 to 6, and the appendix follows on folios 7 to 10.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: the file also contains an original pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/D148
- Title
- 'Memorandum on the Indo-European Telegraph Department and Narrative of Events to the end of 1898'
- Pages
- 1r:10v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence