IOR/R/15/1/144, ff 15-23

In this letter, Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire, writes to Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, Bagdad [Baghdad], on the subject of a direct trade in horses from the Persian Gulf to Kurrachee [Karachi]. Kemball writes that he encloses copies of letters that have passed between the Commissioner in Scinde [Sindh] and other departments on this subject, and that the Governor in Council has sanctioned the formation of a standing committee at Kurrachee as an experimental measure for two years. He asks that Creswicke notify all those connected with the horse trade, within the area of his political supervision, of this arrangement. Kemball encloses the following copies of letters:

• Copy of letter no. 695: Henry Bartle Edward Frere, Commissioner in Scinde, Kurrachee, to the Political Agent, Bushire. Letter dated 16 March 1854. Frere writes that in reference to the subject of a trade in horses with the Persian Gulf, he encloses copies of related correspondence. The copies are as follows:
• Copy of letter no. 357: Philip Melvill, Secretary to the Chief Commissioner for the Punjab, to Henry Bartle Edward Frere, Commissioner in Scinde. Letter dated 24 February 1854. Melvill acknowledges receipt of letter No. 379, dated 10 February 1854, which contained enclosures regarding the advisability of establishing an agency at Kurrachee for the purchase of horses from Arabia and the Persian Gulf. He also writes that he encloses a copy of a letter addressed to the Supreme Government on this subject. The enclosed copy of the letter is as follows:
• Copy of a letter from Philip Melvill, Secretary to the Chief Commissioner for the Punjab, to John Peter Grant, Officiating Secretary to the Government of India. Letter dated 24 February 1854. In this letter Melvill presents a summary of the advice given by the Chief Commissioner regarding the proposed trade in horses, which reads as follows: He proposes that an arrangement that would induce dealers to bring Arab horses direct to Kurrachee would be of great advantage to officers, this breed being the best adapted for military purposes. He also notes that it is not the practice on this side of India to appoint agents for the purchase of horses, but instead to have standing committees composed of officers who are good judges of horses. He presents the example of a standing committee at Peshawur [Peshawar] that has admitted some excellent horses. He writes that although their studs supply sufficient horses for the regular mounted branches of the Bengal army, there is still a need for the indigenous breeds which are best at quick work in the hot weather. Melvill also includes a copy of the following letter:
• Copy of letter no. 694: Henry Bartle Edward Frere, Commissioner in Scinde, Kurrachee, to the Chief Commissioner for the Punjab. Letter dated 16 March 1854. Frere writes that he feels assured that a direct trade in horses with the Persian Gulf might be approved if the Government of India authorise the appointment of a standing committee to purchase a given number of horses at a given price, and that after two or three seasons it would then support itself.
• Copy of letter no. 2166: Henry Bartle Edward Frere, Commissioner in Scinde, Kurrachee, to the Political Agent, Bushire. Dated 1 August 1854. Frere writes that he encloses a copy of a letter, which precedes this letter in the volume, from the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner in the Punjab. The enclosed letter is as follows:
• Copy of letter no. 1594: The officiating Seretary to the Chief Commissioner for the Punjab, to Henry Bartle Edward Frere, Commissioner in Scinde, Kurrachee. Dated 20 July 1854. In this letter, the officiating Secretary informs Frere that the formation of a standing committee at Kurrachee has been sanctioned as an experimental measure for two years.