'Volume II. MEMORANDA REGARDING OTHER EXTERNAL AFFAIRS. 1905.' [‎35r] (74/228)

t 3 3
to report on the scheme. In reply, the
Government of India mentioned Mr. Preston,
Inspector-General, Irrigation, who could be
sent to report after his retirement in Septem
ber 1905 from service in India, and stated
that the enquiry as regards an Indian contribu
tion was not understood. They added that no
opinion could be formed as to the period of Mr.
Preston’s employment, or the precise nature of
the enquiry to be made, and that upon the
answer to these questions would depend the
question of the contribution, if any, to be paid
by India.
7. It is reported that Abdulla declines
the succession to the Grand Sharifate of Mecca,
and that the choice now lies between two men
named Kassim and Sadik.
8. The Imam of the Yemen has address
ed a letter to His Majesty the King-Emperor
through the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. at Aden, com
plaining of oppression and of the viciousness
and disregard of the religious principles of the
Islamic religion by which the Turkish officials
of the Yemen have provoked hostility. He
fears that the representations on the subject
which he has addressed to the Sultan have not
reached their destination, and he prays that
the King-Emperor will communicate his views
to the Sultan on his behalf. The Imam craves
a similar position of independence in Yemen
to that enjoyed by his ancestors, but he
acknowledges the suzerainty of the Sultan of
Turkey. The Turkish troops occupied Sana on
the 29th August without opposition (vide
paragraphs 10 to 13 of the Memorandum for
July 1905).
9. The Turkish authorities are reported
to have inaugurated, in the early part of the
month of June, a telegraph line from Maan
to Akaba.
PERSIAN GULP.
10. Masqat.—(Vide paragraph 19 of
Memorandum for July 1905.) Reports con
tinue to come in from the North-West frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan.
districts of the importation of arms into
Afghanistan from Maskat and the Gulf Ports.
11. The Maskat Arbitration Award has
been rendered.
12. Musandim .—paragraph 21 of
Memorandum for July 1905.) The Secretary of
State for India telegraphed on the 16th August
that he had no objection to the proposal made
by the Government of India to defer, until
the declaration of the Maskat Arbitration
Award, the actual removal of the flag staffs
on Isthmus and Sheep Islands, but that the
question of the Telegraph Island would require
further consideration before any communica
tion on the subject is made to the Sultan.