Page 191 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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Minute of the Persian Foreign Minister referred to above voas as follows;—
" March 29th, 1868.
“With respect to permission for the cable telegram station on the Island of Angaum
•Memorandum of the staff and accommodation the number of persons to be employed and the
requited to weih the telegraph cable at Angaum. extent of accommodation to be provided in
Fifteen European*, consisting of clerki to work the said island in accordance with the said
the instruments night and d iy, allowance being memorandum, * dated nth March, and the
made for such as may be disabled by illness—of a plans forwarded to the Persian Foreign Office
Superintendent and hi* Asmtanl—an Apothecary on 2y(J, 0f t|,e same month after being
A telegraph office containing instrument room, approved of by the Dritish Mission, the Persian
battery room*, Superintend nt's office, verandah, Minister, in order to strengthen the friendly
te. relations between the two Governments, will
Dwelling-house (or Superintendent and his Assis­ give permission and authority in the manner
tant.
Barrack for ten or twelve clerks. indicated, provided that the number of employes
House (or Apothecary and Medical Stores. and extent of the buildings are not allowed at
Large shed (or tclrgraph stores and material. any time to exceed those explained in the
House (or store-keeper.
Shed for inferior material and co? I st^rc (or the memorandum received from the British Lega­
telegraph steamer when cruising. Sundry out- tion.”
office (or cooking-houses,native servants, stables,etc.
C. Alison.
Tehran, March 14th, 1868.
With his despatch No. 43, dated the 2nd April 1868, Sir C. Alison for­
warded to Lord Stanley, the convention* signed that day with the Persian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, for the extension of a line of telegraph from some
point between Jask and Bandar Abbas and Gwadur.
183. In their letter to the Government of India, No. 206, dated the 22nd
Proceeding*, Political a., November 186S, Nos. October 1868, the Bombay Government
85-86 (No. 85). observed that Mr. Alison’s despatch of the
31st March (868, enclosing a letter from the Persian Foreign Minister, was in
no way in the nature of a convention or agreement between the two Governments,
but a permission to occupy the Island of Angaum by the Persian Minister without
reciting any authority or confirmation of His Majesty the Shah, and stating that
the Governor in Council had given instructions for the occupation of the island,
leaving any further question to future adjustment.
184. In reply, the Government of India said, in their letter No. 1294, dated
the 3rd November 1868, that the Gover­
Proceedings No. £6, ibid.
nor-General in Council had approved of
the directions given by the Bombay Government in regard to the occupation of
Angaum, and remarked as follows
11 It is strictly correct that Angaum is not mentioned in Mr. Alison’s letter of 2nd April
1868, nor, by name, in the convention to which the despatch gave cover. But it is, on the
other hand, perfectly certain that the despatch of the Secretary of State to the Governor
of Bombay in Council of the 7th May last, which gave cover to a memorandum of Lieuten­
ant-Colonel Goldsmid, and to a copy of the same convention as was forwarded by Mr.
Alison, expressly mentioned Angaum as a place of which Persia had permitted the occupa­
tion, while throughout all that correspondence it is evident that Angaum is alluded to as
the subject of discussion between the two Governments, and as the place to which it was
desirable to shift the cable as soon as permission could be obtained from Persia. The
telegram from Lord Stanley to Sir Stafford Northcote of 19th August 1867, and other
telegrams quoted in the same despatch from the India House, specially mention Angaum ;
and the Secretary of State in hi* telegram of the 20th February last to Mr. Alison desired
that ' Coasts and places ’ specified in the convention should be understood to comprise
dependencies or islands, so that there may be no difficulty regarding Angaum if required
as a telegraph station. Similarly in his despatch of the 2nd April 1868, Mr. Alison
distinctly terms the document forwarded by Inin a convention signed by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and the convention u described as concluded between Her Majesty the
Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of all the Kingdoms of
Persia. On referring to the letter of Mr. Alison, dated the 31st March, which is to the
address of Lord Stanley, His Excellency in Council finds that Mr Alison distinctly terms
the communication one from the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs, conveying the Shah’s
sanction for the erection according to the enclosed rough sketch and return of employes
furnished by Major Champain, of a telegraph station on the Island of - Angaum. His Excel­
lency in Council mudt consequently presume that His Majesty's Minister at Tehran had
good reason for concluding that the Persian Minister was authorised to use the name and
to give the sanction of the Shah to the project.”
* bee page 49 of Volume 6 of 1868.