‘File 7/5 Appointment of Judicial Adviser to the Political Resident’ [‎19r] (37/42)

(XSC3/34(9/48))
Foreign Office, S.W. 1
31st December, 1948
Dear Hay,
We have been giving further thought to the proposal
for the appointment of a Judicial Adviser to the Political
Resident, which I believe you discussed with Beckett when
you were last in England.
I understand that powers already exist for such an
Assistant to hold court in all or any of the political
Agencies in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and from our point of view it
would great^ly facilitate the problem of the future staffing
of the Agencies if the appointnent were made. Moreover, it
would leave the Political Agents, with more time to devote to
commercial anu financial problems, of which the importance
is now increasing. Arrangements could presumably be made
w'hereby instead of the Political Agents hearing all tne
cases at present, they should aeal only with cases of a petty
nature and remand all serious cases to be heard by the
Judicial Assistant 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. , who could tour
the Agencies at appropriate intervals, sitting in each place
for perhaps a week or a fortnight according to the nunber of
cases which have accumulated.
We have the impression that the volume of judicial work
in the Gulf is increasing as a result of the increased size
of the foreign population there, all of whom are justiciable
in British Courts; and as many United States citizens are
now involved, our judicial system will scab be unaer fire if
it is not prompt and effective.
It would help us to decide whether we could now make
a case for the appointment of a full-time or part-time
Judicial Assistant if we knew rather more about the proportions
which Court work in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. has now assumed. I wonder,
therefore, whether you could possibly let us have any statistics
of the number of cases, if possible classified as cases of a
petty or of a serious nature, heard recently in each of the
Agencies? It would also be useful to have your estimate of the
present population in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. States.
Yours sincerely
Sd. A.J. GARDENER
Sir Rupert Hay, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.,
Office of 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.
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
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(TRUE COPY) .