IOR/L/PS/12/1498

The file contains correspondence regarding the supply of gas masks and other anti-gas equipment to the military and civilian populations at Aden, in view of the Italo-Ethiopian conflict and the possibility of war with Italy. The principal correspondents are the Aden Chief Commissioner, the India Office Political Department, the Colonial Office, the Government of India Foreign and Political Department, the Air Ministry, the Treasury, and the Air Raid Precautions Department within the Home Office.

It includes discussion of the following: the possibility of air attacks on Aden; the provision of gas masks for civilian personnel employed in essential services in Aden; the provision of gas masks for the remainder of the civilian population; whether masks should be distributed free of charge or made available for a small fee; the provision of related articles, including medicines, boots, bleaching powder and goggles; permission to conduct training exercises in preparation for an attack; and the allocation of costs between the Aden authorities, the Government of India, and the Colonial Office.

The file also includes discussion of the precautions to be taken at Malta, British Somaliland, and Kenya, plus several references to the debate over the free issue of anti-gas equipment in Britain.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 2).