File 600/1905 Pt 6 'Aden Hinterland: Upper Yaffai; treaties with Sultan Kahtan and other Chiefs' [‎58r] (111/212)

No. 3808, dated Bombay Castle, the 17th June 1905.
From—The Hon'ble Mr. S. W. Edgerley, C.I.E., Chief Secretary to the Govern
ment of Bombay, Political Department,
To The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
I am directed to state, for the information of the Government of India,
that the Accountant-General, Bombay, in submitting for sanction detailed
bills of expenditure incurred by 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. , Aden, duiing anuary
1905, pointed out that the sanction of tl e Government of India was neces
sary to pass a monthly recurring charge of 7 dollars paid to Rashid Kasim
on "behalf of Sheikh* Mutahir Ali of ^ Ardaf on the Shaibi-Mares border,
as an allowance for inspecting and guarding the boundary pillars in his country,
from the 25th January to the 31st December 1904, ^ amounting in all to
Rs. 105-4-5. 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. , to whom the subject was referred for
report, explains in his letter No. 2940, dated 21st May last (a copy of which
is enclosed), that an agreement was entered into by the late Captain Warneford
on the 4th October 1903, by which Sheikh Mutahir Ali was to receive a
monthly stipend of 7 dollars in consideration of the assistance he had rendered
to the British Government, and particularly for the preservation of the four
boundary pillars on the borders.
2. I am to observe that the treaty with the Amir of Dthala provided
for the preservation of the boundary pillars on the frontier line of his country,
and that no arrangement has been sanctioned for the preservation of the
pillars on the boundary line running north-east beyond his boundaries through
the Shaibi-Mares country already demarcated.
3. In these circumstances, I am to request that, in view of the agreement
above referred to, the Government of India may be moved to accord sanction
to the charge amounting to Rs. 105-4-5, paid to Rashid Kasim on behalf of
Sheikh Mutahir Ali, from 25th January to 31st December 1904, and to the
charges on that account for future months.
4. As Captain Warneford is dead and General Maitland has retired, it is
not possible to submit any explanation of the failure to report the agreement
at the time for approval. His Excellency the Governor in Council, however,
is of opinion that there is nothing objectionable in the agreement.
No. 2940, dated Aden, the 21st May 1905.
From— Major-General H. M. Mason, 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. at Aden,
To—The Secretary to the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. , Political Department.
With reference to paragraph 1 of Government Resolution No. 2025, dated
the 29th March 1905, requesting me to explain the circumstances under which
an allowance of seven dollars per mensem was paid to Rashid Kasim, on
behalf of Sheikh Mutahir Ali of Abu Sahm-al-Ardaf in the country of Shaib,
and enquiring why the previous sanction of Government was not obtained to
its payment, the charge being one of a recurring nature, I have the honour to
state that when Musaid Mutahir, the eldest son of the Chief of Ardaf, on the
Shaibi-Mares border, visited Dthala in October 1903, the late Captain
Warneford, who was then Political Officer, took the opportunity of suggesting
to the Resident to give effect to the idea, which General Maitland then seemed
to have entertained, regarding the future care of the boundary pillars, and is
alluded to later on in 1904 in paragraph 8 of his confidential letter No. 76,
dated the 2nd April 1904, on the subject of the new treaty with the Amir of
Dthala, namely, to pay the local Sheikhs, on whose borders the pillars stand,
a small sum for each pillar as long as it remained standing. General
Maitland then agreed; and on Captain Warneford’s recommendation, it was
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