IOR/L/PS/10/190/1

The papers concern the recruitment by the governments of Italy and France of natives of the British protectorate of Aden for military and colonial policing purposes.

The main correspondents are the Political Resident, Aden; the Viceroy of India; and senior officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office, and the Government of India.

The papers cover: the recruitment by Italy of Arabs (referred to as 'Ascaris') for service as soldiers in Italian Somaliland (also referred to as the Benadir Coast), a proposal to which the British authorities had no objection, March 1905 - April 1908 (folios 210-238); the British decision to refuse permission for further recruitment by the Italians, because a state of war existed between Italy and Turkey and the recruitment was an infringement of British neutrality under the terms of the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870, September-October 1911 (folios 188-208); the reasons for the detention by the Political Resident, Aden of ammunition stores destined for the Governor of Benadir, November 1911 (folios 174-187); opposition from the Government of India to further recruitment by the Italians in the Aden Protectorate for service in the military or police in their African colonies, because of the effect on the Aden labour market, 1914 (folios 147-168); a French request to recruit substitutes for Arab labourers ('coolies') in Madagascar, December 1914 (folios 135-142); permission granted to the Italians to recruit 500 Arabs from the Hadramaut [Hadramawt], January - June 1915 (folios 111-134); and the granting of permission to the French to recruit colonial troops in Aden, 1917 (folios 105-110).

The papers include one letter in French from the French Ambassador to the United Kingdom.