Coll 29/86 'Diplomatic and consular expenditure: incidence; revision; general' [‎18r] (35/561)

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valuable every day f
a# regard* Oil, the Bahrain and California i\rablan
Oil Coiapaniee are American oonoern* which compete with the
roiglo*Iranian and ee 11 much of their oil to India, Where is
the Imperial benefit here ? *helation« with Saudi Arabia, Iraq,
Iran*# These are conducted through Jiddah, Jbagdad arid Tehran
ae beiore, why ahould this affect Indian Interests t The
xearl Trade, This, like all luxury trades has been under a
shadow for some time, but is now enjoying a revival. It has
not "given place" to Oil as the two commodities are entirely
unconnected, but the oil industry is a new-comer which provides
lucrative employment for Indians, scope for Indian trade and raw
material for the Indian market.
9, How I come to “the question 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. * 1 ,
and the doubt that the Toreign Office or Colonial Office would
wish to retain him solely to supervise three *»Levantine Service
Political Agents*, I scarcely know where to begin. In the
first place I assume that the reference is to the levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Consular
service (it is a mortal insult to call them levantinee) and if
so, I may say that it was abolished several years ago, and that
all officers joining the Consular Service have for some time
been posted to the "General*, and the *Par eastern*. The
•Far ^astern* covers China, Japan and Siam and the Jutch Cast
Indies, and the "General * the rest of the world. The Gulf
would, therefore, be staffed with officers who had quite
possibly com# fresh from Curope or the United States (e,g, the
last Consul at Basra), who were ignorant of its languages, and
who would have only one object in view, namely, to get out of
it again as quickly as possible. They might easily have no
experience of the Saet, would certainly be utterly ignorant of
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