ملف رقم ٣٣٠٠ لسنة ١٩١٦ الجزء ٢ "نشرات عدن: (يناير ١٩١٧ إلى ديسمبر ١٩١٧)" [و‎‎١‎٣‎١] (٦٢٠/٢٦١)

30th ffiEKLY LETTER
i
Secret.
ADEN RESIDENCY,
The October 1917.
Dear Sir Reginald Wingate
You will remember in my last letter I stated that
I had sent some troops to Shukra as we had reports that
a Turkish raid was expected there. On arrival the reports
were found to be entirely false and the troops returned after
staying one day. The information on which Sultan Abdul
Kadir based his appeal has since come into my hands and it
shows no grounds whatever for anticipating an attack on
Shukra, though it does show a movement of a very small
force of Turks and Arabs to a point some distance away from
that place. Sultan Abdul Kadir apparently lost his head
and sent in an energent call for help without enquiry first
into the facts. As we had also heard from other sources
of the movement I decided it was better to act than to risk
a mishap by delay. Abdul Kadir did try to stop us but
his letter arrived after the return of the troops.
He has been severely warned as to his future conduct in
such circumstances. His position is a little precarious
and he perhaps not unnaturally is rather prone to fear the
worst.
Reports received from Shaikh Mesid Metahar Ali of
Salim al Ardaf would tend to show a diminution in the Imam's
power and an increase in that of the Idrisi. bimilcnr
reports reach us from time to time from various sources.
He mentions in his letter " the son of the Imam" as occupying
many districts. This is presumably the head of the
confederacy.
General^ir Reginald Wingate, G-.C.B., G.C.V.O., K.C.ii.G., V.S.Q.
His Britannic Majesty's High Commissioner,
Cairo.