IOR/L/PS/20/FO20

The volume consists of published copies of correspondence between the Admiralty, Foreign Office, Government of Bombay, Government of India, India Office, Treasury, British administrative and diplomatic staff, foreign governments and their staff, and private individuals. It was printed for use by the Foreign Office.

The volume contains the following publications:

• ‘Part XVI. Further Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Persia and Arabia. Jan-Feb 1904.’ (ff 4-86)
• ‘Part XVII. Further Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Persia and Arabia. March and April 1904.’ (ff 87-211)
• ‘Part XVIII. Further Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Persia and Arabia. May and June 1904.’ (ff 212-321).

The correspondence concerns activity in Arabia including the Aden Protectorate, Bahrein [Bahrain], El Katr [Qatar], Muscat, Oman, and Yemen; activity in Persia [Iran] and the Persian Gulf; and the activity of foreign countries in the region, including France and Russia. It primarily covers the following:

• Political and diplomatic affairs, particularly governmental reforms and appointments in Persia, including a memorandum on provincial governance reforms (ff 239-240)
• Financial affairs, including financial reform in Persia and Russian loans to the Persian government
• Trade, tax, and customs, including a memorandum on customs statistics for the first six months of operation of the new customs tariff in Persia (ff 303-304)
• Public health, including quarantine cordons and an outbreak of cholera in Kermanshah
• Communications and transport, including roads, railways, shipping, telegraphy, telephony, and road-building, including a map of projected routes for the ongoing construction of the Damascus-Mecca Railway, catalogued as IOR/L/PS/20/FO20, f 166
• Military affairs, including: monthly reports on Russian military movements in the Trans-Caspian region; and the reinforcement of the Hedjaz [Hejaz] by Turkey [Ottoman Empire] in response to disorder
• Naval affairs, including: ‘piracy’ on the Shatt-el-Arab [Shatt al Arab] and in the Gulf; and Persian territorial claims to the islands of Tamb [Greater and Lesser Tunbs], Abu Musa, and Sirri
• Territorial and border disputes, including: Turkish encroachments over the Turco-Persian border; the ongoing joint Anglo-Turkish boundary commission to delineate the frontier between Yemen and the Aden Protectorate; and British arbitration in the dispute between Persia and Afghanistan over the waters of the Helmund [Helmand] River, including a copy of the arbitration award (f 37).

The following is also included:

• Monthly summaries of events in Persia for each month from January 1904 to June 1904
• French activity in Oman, particularly the long-running dispute over the French flag being flown by Suri dhows and including a ‘draft Compromis’ for the establishment of the Muscat Dhow Arbitration (ff 95-96)
• Affairs in El Katr, including: delays to the withdrawal of the Turkish Mudirate established at Wakra [Al Wakrah]; and the aspiration of the Ruler of El Katr to come under British protection
• Religious affairs in Persia, including the alleged persecution of Nestorian Christians
• The capture of Riadh [Riyadh] by Ibn Saoud [Ibn Sa‘ūd].

Material written in French is present throughout the volume, consisting primarily of diplomatic correspondence and agreements.