IOR/L/PS/10/531/2

This part contains papers relating to banking facilities in the occupied (by the British) territory of Mesopotamia [Iraq]. The papers consist of correspondence, and India Office Minute Papers and internal notes.

The file includes papers relating to: the views of the Government of India and the Department of Overseas Trade on the question of extending banking facilities in the occupied territory; the application of Boulton Bros. & Co. to open a branch of the Alliance Bank of Egypt at Basra; the application of Tata Industrial Bank Limited to open a branch at Basra; and the request by the Colonial Bank for assistance to be given by the local authorities in Baghdad to Mr T Langdon-Bruce and Mr H E Weber, being sent by the Bank to enquire into the conditions obtaining in Mesopotamia and prospects for trade in the country.

The correspondence is mostly between the India Office and the following: the Viceroy (of India), Foreign Department; the Foreign Office; the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad (including telegrams sent from ‘Political, Baghdad’); Boulton, Bros. & Co.; the Department of Overseas Trade; and the Colonial Bank.