Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎142v] (284/290)

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Certain of the subsidies alread} 7 being paid had grown out of war
conditions. He considered that they should now be reduced to an g
absolute minimum. He was inclined to the view that subsidies
should only be pail where they could be supported as an
insurance against military commitments, and that India was just as
much interested as His Majesty’s Government in the peace of the
Arabian Peninsula. He did not think that His Majesty’s Govern
ment should accept any financial liabilities except on the
understanding that the Government of India were prepared to
bear one-half of the total expenditure involved.
The Chairman said that the policy of subsidies in Arabia was
an adaptation of the policy consistently followed by the Government
of India. It had hitherto met with remarkable success on the
north-west frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. , and experience had shown that it was the only
satisfactory method of controlling tribes who were not actually
under British administration. He did not support all the proposals
that had been made for future subsidies in Arabia. Certain of the
amounts suggested were, in his opinion, far too large. The
payments had in some cases been swollen to an enormous extent as
a result of the war The policy had been initiated when the King
of the Hedjaz had been encouraged by His Majesty’s Government
to lead an Arab revolt against the Turks. The Shereef of Mecca
had always received financial support from the Turkish Government,
and it had been recognised that when he was induced to sever his
relations with that Government it was only reasonable to compensate
him for his financial loss. Apart from this he had received
considerable sums to enable him to take effective military action.
'1 he subsidy to Ibn Saud, who was a potent factor in Arabian
politics, had been initiated as a purely military measure. This was
also the reason why the Idrisi had been subsidised. Neither the
King of the Hedjaz nor the Idrisi had received any subsidy for
some time- That to Ibn Saud had been continued. While he
agreed that no case could be made out for the continuance of war
subsidies at war rates, he considered, at the same time, that it would
be impolitic to withdraw all subsidies under peace conditions. He
hoped that the Government of India would not dispute either that
India was equally concerned with His Majesty’s Government in the
maintenance of order in the Arabian Peninsula or that the best way
to ensure this result was by a judicious empl >yment of the principle
of subsidies
Major Young, in reply to a question by the Chairman, said that
there were certain of the independent rulers of Arabia who were in
a position to take hostile action against areas for which His Majesty’s
Government were responsible. Examples of these rulers were the
Imam of the Yemen, who was in a position to encroach upon the
Aden protectorate and Ibn Saud and I bn Rashid, who were in a
position to organise raids against Mesopotamia. In the case of
rulers so situated, the policy of subsidies could be supported on the
grounds suggested by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, namely,
that it was an insurance against possible military commitments.
In the case of the King of the Hedjaz, the policy could be supported on
the grounds suggested by the Chairman, namely, that His Majesty’s
Government, by depriving him of the financial support which he
used to receive from the Turks were bound in equity, if not in law,
to compensate him for his financial loss. In the case of certain
other rulers, such as the Sultan of Muscat and the Sultan of Shehr
and Mokalla, the Government of India were already pledged by
treaty to provide financial assistance. In cases where none of the
above arguments could legitimately apply, such as that of the Idrisi
of Asir, the arguments in favour of a subsidy were, firstly, that he
was m a position to take aggressive action against the King of the
Hedjaz, whose independence had been recognised by the Allied
1 owers, and an attack upon whom by the Idrisi would give rise to