File 4535/1928 Pt 13 ‘Persian Gulf: Bushire: Residency Flagstaff.’ [‎41r] (75/94)

0
Q
Minute Paper.
political Department.
32C2a 5000 Ll/28
Please see Lord Monteagle’s demi-official
letter of 25th ..arch to Mr. Walton about the Bushire
flagstaff. Copy of the correspondence on the subject
is flagged "D" below.
Z- The Foreigi Office letter, read with the
copy of correspondence, speaks for itself. In the
view of the Department the fact that the flagstaff is
situated outside the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. grounds would make it
very difficult for us to oppose a Persian demand that
the British flag should be lowered, and the balance of
advantage rests, I think, as the Foreign Office
suggest ( with forestalling further Persian
representations by removing the flag, if not the
flagstaff, ourselves.
It will be remembered that the Political
Resident indicated that the removal of the flagstaff
would produce a very unfortunate effect along the Arab
shore. It was not very clear why this should be tne
case, but it now seems probable that the explanation is
that the flagstaff is used at night as a light beacon
and for signalling to British ships (compare extract
f-Oil Bushire Diary for September 1928, flagged
The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Pilot confirms the importance of the
flagstaff as a landmark, and states that two lights
are exhibited from it, one of which, 72 ft. above high-
water, should be seen from a distance of 13 miles,
while the other, 54 ft. above high-water, should be
seen from a distance of 11 miles. Clearly the removal
of a beacon of this nature could not but form the
subject of comment along the coast.
On/