IOR/L/PS/10/664

This volume is composed of interdepartmental correspondence relating to the future administration of the lighting and buoying service in the Persian Gulf.

The correspondence discusses the possibility of control of buoying and lighting in the Persian Gulf being transferred to the Government of Persia. At this time the service was being maintained by the Royal Indian Marine, with its financing being shared between the British Imperial Government (specifically the Foreign Office) and the Government of India. The correspondence includes the point of view of the Government of India on the suggestion that the Shatt-Al-Arab Conservancy board should also be responsible for lighting and buoying along the Gulf coast. Furthermore, it discusses the major point to be settled in the present negotiations with Persia during 1928-30, which is the international boundary in the Shatt-el-Arab, as defined in the Treaty of Erzurum of 1847, and the Persia-Turkish Frontier Delimitation Agreement of 1913. The correspondence then moves on to cover the organisation and discussion of the tripartite conference taking place in Iraq regarding the future administration of the lighting and buoying service on the coast of the Persian Gulf, with the participating countries being Iraq, Persia and Great Britain (with India).

Notable correspondents include the following: the Viceroy of India; the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf; the High Commissioner Iraq; the Director of the Royal Indian Marine; officials of the India Office, the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, the Treasury, and the Government of India's Marine Department; the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf; the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy, East India Section; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iraq; the Government of Iraq; the Council of Ministers, Iraq; the Port Directorate in Basra.

In addition to correspondence, the volume contains the following: minutes of an interdepartmental conference held at the India Office in 1931 (ff 26-28), copies of an India Office memorandum entitled 'Memorandum on the Lighting and Buoyage of the Persian Gulf', dated 1931 (ff 62-64).

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.