‘WAR DIARY. ARMY HEADQUARTERS, INDIA. […] I.E.F. “D”. Volume 41. PART II. (From 16th to 31st December 1917).’ [‎83r] (170/508)

necessitated primarily by military considerations. It is, of course, tbe case
that Sir Percy Cos and the other political officers are closely concerned with
the administration of the occupied territory, but it would be difficult to lay
down any satisfactory method of allocation of the charges of these various
officers between Porce “ D ” and the Basrah Administration. ^Moreover, lor
the purposes of the financial adjustments between the Imperial and the Indian
Governments, it is immaterial whether w r e record the charges wholly m the
accounts of recoverable w ar expenditure connected with Porce “ D,” or partly
in these accounts and partly in those of the Basrah Administration; lor, as
already stated, we propose to give the Imperial Government credit for the
ordinary pay and allowances of all officers of the Indian Government, whether
employed with Porce “I)” or in connection with the Basrah Administration,
who have not been replaced in appointments paid from Indian revenues. The
charges of the political officers have, however, not appeared in the accounts of
recoverable war expenditure which have up to now r been rendered to you, as
owing to a misapprehension the expenditure has not been properly adjusted in
the past. But in our future accounts of recoverable war expenditure these
charges will be shown separately, so that if His Majesty’s Treasury and the
War Office should decide that a portion of the expenditure is debitable to
Basrah revenues, they will find no difficulty in making the necessary adjust
ment.
In our telegram of the 21st October 1911, cited above, we said that the
additional expenditure connected with Sir Percy Cox’s deputation w r ould pre
sumably be shared in moieties between the Imperial and Indian Governments.
This statement was, however, made before definite procedure had been devel
oped regarding the adjustment of expenditure connected with Porce £( 13” and
whether Sir Pe rcy Cox’s deputation is held to be in connection with Porce
“ D ”, or with the administration of Basrah, we do not think there can be any
doubt that charges on his account should be adjusted in the w r ay which w 7 e have
indicated in this paragraph. In working out the final figures of India’s con
tribution in respect of Porce “ I) ” for 1915-16, due credit will be given for the
savings accruing to Indian revenues from the employment of Sir Percy Cox
and the other political officers with Porce i£ 1) ” from the date of commence
ment of such employment.
7. As regards the second class of transactions mentioned in paragraph 5
above, the procedure which we are adopting is as follows :—
(i) On the Post Office side, there are certain military offices which have
been opened to meet the requirements of the expeditionary force,
and their receipts and charges are being adjusted as appertaining
to Force “ D.” Certain offices have also been opened at Basrah,
Amarah and other places, mainly to meet non-military require
ments, and their receipts and charges will be adjusted in the
accounts of the Basrah Administration.
(ii) On the Telegraph side, the position is 8s follows. Of the offices
now open in Mesopotamia, Pao is an old station of the Indo-
European Telegraph Department which w 7 as in existence prior to
the war, and its case will require special consideration. We
would ask for instructions whether the receipts and charges of
this office should continue to be treated as relating to the Indo-
European Telegraph Department, any necessary adjustments with
the Imperial Government being made by you. The other offices
in Mesopotamia are maintained for the present chiefly to meet
military requirements, and the amount of non-military traffic
handled by them is, we understand, comparatively insignificant.
We propose that their receipts and charges, as w T ell as those of the
military wireless station at Basrah, should be adjusted as apper
taining to the Indian Expeditionary Force “ D” except in the
case of the combined postal and telegraph office at Zubair, wffiich
is a civil office and whose transactions will be recorded in the
accounts of the Basrah Administration. Of course, in the case of
foreign telegrams booked or received at any of the offices in Meso
potamia excepting Eao, the Imperial Government will be credited
in ttie accounts of Force <( D ” only with the Turkish or Meso
potamian terminal charge.
8. The expenditure falling under class (3) in paragraph 5 (see our Army
Department telegram No. H.-62, dated 4tl] January 1916) is being incurred, for
the present at any rate, mainly in connection with the requirements of the