Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎131r] (261/290)

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calling upon us to pay the whole 2,000,000 in the course of this
\ear, so that the provision made in the estimates did not finally fix
the amount to be expended during the year.
Sir George liar stow agreed, and thought that there would be no
difficulty in explaining this to Parliament, but they would certainly
be against any extra payment.
Mr. Oliphant said that the whole amount was only 350,000
tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. a month, or about 150,000L, of which the Imperial share
would be 75,OuOh The Chancellor of the Exchequer had already
agreed to this sum being paid up to and including May, to half the
amount being paid for June and a quarter for July. Mr. Armitage
Smith’s request thus amounted only to an additional 75,000L for
June, 112,500h f >r July and 15.000L for August. The South Persia
Itifles were to be incorporated in the uniform force by June if possible,
after which no extra payment would be required for them. It also
appeared possible that the sum earmarked for the Cossack Division
would not be required.
Mr. Montagu said that if the Treasury were prepared to concur
in Mr. Armitage Smith’s proposals he would lay them before the
India Council. He wished, however, to point out that he had told
the Council many times that successive requests were positively final,
and he anticipated considerable difficulty. The Government of India
were, as the Conference knew, hostile to the continuance of this
payment. He would do his best.
The Chairman said that Mr. Armitage Smith must be given a
chance. Every effort should be made to induce the Chancellor of
the Exchequer and the 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. to extend their generosity for a
few months more. He invited the Conference to compare the present
position with the position last year. Very considerable reductions
had been made and were being systematically continued. The sum
involved was not large.
The Conference decided :—
That the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs should take the
question up with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the
Secretary of State for India.
Mesopotamia. The Chairman said that the Conference had to deal with
a series of telegrams which had passed between the 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. and
the Civil Commissioner, Bagdad, since the last meeting, and to
determine what immediate steps, if any, were to be taken for the
setting up of a constitution in Mesopotamia. The order of events
had been as follows. At the end of April the Conference had heard
of Sir Edgar Bonham Carter’s Committee, a small body composed of
four able men, all Englishmen, with whom no Arab was associated.
IT ils Committee had taken no evidence, but were reported to have
consulted local opinion to some extent. They had profited by their
own experience of local conditions, and had evolved a series of
recommendations which had been telegraphed by the Civil Com
missioner in three telegrams, dated the 27th April. They had
begun with a prefatory statement which laid stress on the low
standard of education in the country and the absence of individuah
who were capable of filling even lower administrative appointments.
Anticipating a demand for further local enquiry, they agreed that
fuller attempts should be made to ascertain the wishes of the people,
hut considered that before this could be done with any hope of
success a mandate must be granted. They also made special
recommendations regarding the terms of the mandate, into which it
was not necessary to enter in detail at the moment. They then put
forward their proposals for a constitution. There were to be two