IOR/L/PS/5/451, ff 208-252

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 85 of 1847, dated 1 October 1847. The enclosures are dated 15 July-28 September 1847.

The primary correspondents are: Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Captain Indian Navy and Political Agent at Aden; the Secretary to the Government, Bombay; and the Military Board, Bombay. Relevant enclosures include: correspondence between Haines and Captain James Kilner, Executive Engineer, Aden; letters from Kilner to the Brigade Major, Aden, the Superintending Engineer at Aden and the Superintending Engineer at Poona [Pune]; letters from Brigadier W Spiller, Commanding the Aden Field Force, to the Quartermaster-General of the Army, Poona, and from the latter to the Secretary to the Government, Military Department, Bombay. The item also includes several minutes of the Governor and President in Council and the members in Council, Bombay.

The documents chiefly relate to a dispute between Haines and Kilner regarding the latter’s method of procuring kirby [stalks of the bajra grass, or pearl millet, also spelled ‘kurbee’ in this item] for the Engineer Department at Aden (ff 223-252).

Haines complains that Captain Kilner has:

• Acted contrary to the civil and military orders by purchasing forage, especially kirby, directly from the local inhabitants of Lahidge [Lahej, also spelled Lahedge in this item] outside the Turkish Wall (boundary wall of the Aden settlement) instead of at the Aden market
• Used a contractor (a ‘Mr Weiss’, the ‘Coral and Sand Contractor’) to arrange kirby procurement, and to purchase articles arriving by boat without obtaining the necessary customs permits
• Caused potential tensions between the local inhabitants and the British and ‘injured’ the Aden market.

Kilner counter-complains about Haines, notably stating that:

• There is no explicit prohibition on purchasing outside the walls or from the interior
• Haines interfered unduly in having Lieutenant Charles John Cruttenden, the Political Assistant, interrogate Mr Weiss at the police office
• His methods actually save money for the Government, especially since prices in the Aden market are more than double what he pays and the quality of market kirby is particularly poor
• Customs permits should not be required for ‘trifling articles’ such as mats and baskets
• Haines has recently made specific arrangements to prevent locals bringing articles from the interior for the Engineer Department.

Ultimately the authorities in Bombay communicate that whilst Kilner must conform with the rules of the Political Agent for procuring supplies, the price of kirby has now risen so high it is impossible to purchase it and ‘Government looks to [the Political Agent] to take secure measures to avert such complaints of excessive dearth’ and ensure that plentiful supplies find their way to the Aden market (f 249).

Other matters covered in the item are as follows:

• The visit of Mahomed Eschreff Bey [Muḥammad Sharīf Beg], Commissioner from the Sublime Porte [Government of the Ottoman Empire] to the sea port towns of the Arabian coast, including: Haines’s concern that the extension of [Ottoman] Egyptian and Turkish influence in the area (notably at Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] and Mocha) may affect Aden’s trade with Zeyla [Zeila] and Berbera (notably the trading fair at Berbera); and Haines’s request, approved by the authorities in Bombay, that a vessel of war be dispatched to monitor the spread of Turkish influence
• The plundering of the ‘Interior Kafilah [caravan]’ due to various members of the Agribi [‘Akrabī], Subei [Subaīhī] and Azeibi [‘Uzaybī] tribes ‘retaliating each other in consequence of some petty feud between them’ (f 221)
• Rumours that Sultan Hamed Abdalla Foutheli [Aḥmad bin Abdullāh al-Faḍlī] will meet Sultan Hamed M’ Houssain [Aḥmad bin Muḥsin al-‘Abdalī] of Lahidge at ‘Sheik Othman’ [Shaykh Uthman] to settle their disputes including over Sheik Hydra ibn Maidee of Bir Ahmed [Shaikh Ḥaydarah bin Mahdī of Bi’r Ahmad].

Note: The last two enclosures, the Bombay Times summary of Intelligence and Bombay Overland Telegraph and Courier, are noted as ‘Missing 30.10.1906’.