Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎119r] (237/544)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Mtyesty s Government.J
B
[365—32]
Printed for the War Cabinet. October 1918.
SECRET.
E.C. 33rd Minutes.
4
WAR CABINET.
EASTERN COMMITTEE.
Minutes of a Meeting of the Eastern Committee held in Lord Curzon's Room at the
Privy Council Office on Thursday, September 26, 1918, at 3 p.m.
Present:
The Right Hon. the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.
(in the Chair).
The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, O.M., M.P.,
Secretary of State Foreign Affairs.
The Right Hon. Lord Robert Cecil,
K.C., M.P., Assistant Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs.
The Right Hon. E. S. Montagu, M.P.
Secretary of State for India.
General Sir H. H. Wilson, K.C.B., D.S.O.
Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
The following also attended :
Sir Eyre Crowe, K.C.B., K.O.M.G.,
Foreign Office.
Mr. L. Oliphant, C.M.G., Foreign Office.
Sir Mark Sykes, Bt., M.P., Foreign
Office.
Mr. J. E. Shuckburgh, C. B., 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. .
| Lieutenant-General Sir H. V. Cox,
K.C.M.G.,C.B.,C.S.L, Military Secretary,
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. .
| Major-General W. Thwaites, C.B.,
Director of Military Intelligence.
Rear-Admiral G. P. W. Hope, C.B., Deputy
First Sea Lord.
Mr. J. M. Keynes, C.B., Treasury.
Lieutenant-Colonel L. Storr, Secretary. 1
Persia: Financial
Assistance.
1. Mr. Keynes informed the Committee that the present
financial situation in Persia was undoubtedly serious. The whole
question was to be examined by a departmental conference, which
was to meet later that afternoon at the Treasury. It was evident
from the Commander-in-chief's telegram No. 76401 (E.C.-1701)
of the 23rd instant that India was fully alive to the gravity of
the problem of financing our various operations in the Middle
East. Apart from the difficulty of finding currency for North-
West Persia, there was the certainty of a greatly increased
demand being made on the resources of the Imperial Bank, in
order to finance East Persian operations, and in connection with
the railway extension from Mirjawa, and the improvement of
communications generally. A telegram from Sir P. Cox, No. 830,
of the same date, stated that the cash reserves of the bank in
Persia were 5,573,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , of which 545,000 were in transit
and at the mint, while the liabilities were 3,963,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. notes
in circulation, and 5,755,000 other liabilities. The position
depended entirely on trade, which was almost at a standstill^