PZ 8088/31 'Mr Bertram Thomas' [‎642r] (13/42)

nou g’eu oack till the 7th harch. It Y/as evident when
he started that he could not get hack in time. He was
asked for an explanation; and stated that he believed .
he would accomplish his journe^r about the time of the
arrival of his successor, that he had arranged for a
caravan to -be ready to meet him, that he was obliged to
spend large sums of money to send parties to scout for
the caravan, and that when it did arrive he had already
been put to enormous expense and its dismissal would
have put an end to all possibilities of the Rnb-al-
Khali being crossed.
3* How Hr. Thomas certainly could not have accomplished
his journey in the period of his lea,ve, i.e.six weeks,
and he himself states that he hoped to be back about the
time his successor arrived. He was only entitled to
one month, and on his own admission left with the
deliberate intention of staying away nearly three months.
Had Ir. Thomas' not been leaving, had it not been the
end of. the financial year and had Muscat finances not
been in a particularly critical condition,.! think some
allowance might have been made for him in view of a is
exploit. But I consider that an officer v/ho is given
a virtually independent position in an Eastern State
should adhere meticulously to the terms of his cornract.
He clearly put his own ambitions first, and the -.service
of his employers last, and in fact showed nou the
smallest regard for the interests of a State from which
he had received the most generous treatment. It vculd
presumably have been just as easy for him to have started
on his trip in January as in December and he^could then
have supervised the finances of the otaie ug^tae end,
prepared the budget, and handed over in the ordinary
way to his successor. ^
4. ‘.Then his accessor arrived, it was found that the.
greatest laxity had been allowed to prevail in the
financial