No. 5.

Sir.

Sir Austen Chamberlain to Mr. Henderson (Cairo).

Foreign Office, November 9, 1927. I TRANSMIT to you herewith copy of a draft note drawn up in consultation with Sir John Maffey and Mr. MacGregor of the Sudan Government Office regarding irrigation in Egypt and the Sudan, which is designed as the basis of an agreement between Great Britain and Egypt on this subject.

2. The draft note was communicated unofficially to the Egyptian Prime Minister at the Foreign Office on the 4th November. Sarwat Pasha observed that, so far as his absence of technical knowledge permitted him to judge, the principles underlying the projected note were unexceptionable. He would take the documents with him and discuss them with the Minister of Public Works, and let me know if they were definitely acceptable.

I am, &c.

AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN.

Enclosure in No. 5.

Draft of Note to be Addressed by His Excellency the High Commissioner to the President of the Council of Ministers.

I HAVE the honour to remind your Excellency that on the occasion of our recent conversations in regard to the utilisation of the waters of the Nile, we agreed on the following conclusions:

The principle is accepted that the waters of the Nile, that is to say, the combined flow of the White and Blue Niles and their tributaries, must be considered as a single unit, designed for the use of the peoples inhabiting their banks according to their needs. and their capacity to benefit therefrom; and, in conformity with this principle, it is recognised that Egypt has a prior right to the maintenance of her present supplies of water for the areas now under cultivation, and to an equitable proportion of any additional supplies which engineering works may render available in the future.

2. With this end in view, the bases proposed in the report of the Nile Commission, dated the 21st March, 1926, are adopted; the interpretation to be given to this report should take into account the following general conditions :

(a.) During the season of low water the needs of the Sudan (with the exception of certain small areas enumerated in the report in question) shall be satisfied by means of conservancy works constructed by the Sudan Government. The natural flow of the river shall be reserved for the use of Egypt.

(b.) The Sudan will increase to a limited extent only the volumes of water utilised by her during the flood season,

in such a way as to allow Egypt the necessary time to complete the works for the development of her own irrigation system.

(c.) Since the waters of the two Niles and of their tributaries are to be regarded as a single unit, compensation for water taken by the Sudan from the natural flow of the river may be provided by the release of water stored in the Sudan Government's works.

3. The practical measures which should immediately be taken to ensure that the utilisation of the water by the Sudan is effected in conformity with the above stipulations are specified in the first of the attached technical agreements (Annex A).*

4. The measures specified in Annex A are accepted as appropriate to existing conditions and to the developments foreseen in the commission's report. As regards possible future developments, it is agreed that Egypt, as the result of her physical configuration, must rely to a greater extent than the Sudan on irrigation works, and that she must accordingly exercise a preponderating influence on the general development of works designed to store the waters of the Nile. It is agreed, therefore, that facilities shall be given to Egypt to undertake, in territories outside her administrative control, the works required for this purpose subject to the right of the Sudan to such lesser participation in these works as circumstances shall permit.

5. The principles in accordance with which such development shall be carried out are defined in the second of the attached technical agreements (Annex B).* The progress of development works and their practical operation will form the subject of detailed agreements which will be revised from time to time as experience or new circumstances may demand.

6. As regards any technical agreements relating to the use of water in the Sudan, the representatives of the Egyptian Irrigation Department will be given all the necessary facilities to check the calculations of the Sudan Governinent, and they will be granted free access to the latter's irrigation works in order that they may satisfy themselves that the distribution of the water is carried out in accordance with the agreements reached.

7. As regards conservancy works to be constructed in British territory, His Britannic Majesty's Government will give the Egyptian Government all possible assistance to enable the latter to carry out the said works in their own interest and at their own. expense. As regards the works to be carried out in the Sudan, the Sudan Government will likewise afford help and facilities to the Egyptian Government, subject to such arrangements as the needs of the local administration may necessitate. The Egyptian Government will bear (subject to a proportionate contribution on the part

*Not printed.

of the Government of the Sudan in the case of works in which that Government is participating) the cost of any secondary works and any cash payments which are recognised as necessary to compensate local interests injured by the damage and disturbance which the said works may occasion.

8. The acceptance of the principles and conditions enumerated above, particularly in paragraphs 2 (b), 4 and 7, is subject to the condition that the Egyptian Government will avail themselves of the opportunities thereby offered, and will carry out, without unreasonable delay, a development programme consonant with their needs and resources.

9. It is recognised that, in the course of the operations here contemplated, uncertainty may still arise from time to time, either as to the correct interpretation of a question of principle, or as to technical or administrative details. Every question of this kind will be approached in a spirit of mutual good faith and with the desire to secure an equitable solution in the common interest of Egypt and the Sudan.

My Lord,

No. 6.

Sir Austen Chamberlain to Lord Lloyd (Cairo).

Foreign Office, November 24, 1927. When Sarwat Pasha and your Lordship left London to return to Egypt, the discussions between his Excellency and myself were practically completed, but time had not permitted me to obtain the final decision of His Majesty's Government in Great Britain on the draft treaty in the form which had been given to it as the result of our long and friendly exchange of views.

2. I was, however, able to inform you just before you left Marseilles in the same ship in which his Excellency travelled that, subject only to the settlement of a suitable text for the expression of the agreement on a minor point which Sarwat Pasha and I had already reached in principle and to the concurrence of His Majesty's Governments in the Dominions and India (which, as I had already explained to his Excellency, we considered necessary), His Majesty's Government in Great Britain were prepared to accept the treaty as then proposed. It was understood between us that on each side ratification would be subject to parliamentary approval.

3. I need not say that the treaty thus definitely approved differs in many and important respects from the draft which I had earlier offered to Sarwat Pasha on behalf of His Majesty's Government. It embodies large concessions to his Excellency's own views and to Egyptian sentiment, which, after hearing Sarwat Pasha's explanations, His Majesty's Government have felt it possible to make in order to reach agreement. His Excellency was good enough to recognise fully on more than one occasion the friendly and sympathetic spirit in which His Majesty's Government had received and considered his representations, and I gladly [17246]

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acknowledge that his Excellency brought a similar friendly spirit, largeness of outlook and earnest desire for agreement to our common deliberations.

4.

In its present form the draft treaty must be regarded as expressing on the one side and the other the limit to which each party can advance in his wish to meet the other. It was so understood between us, and it was on this condition only that Sarwat Pasha no less than I could go thus far. It was common ground to us both that no further changes could be made and that the treaty must now be accepted or rejected as it stands.

5.

His Excellency will remember that I found great difficulty in giving even a provisional and personal assent to the existing wording of one passage near the beginning of article 7. I refer to the phrase pending the conclusion at some future date of an agreement by which," &c. I was concerned lest this wording should give rise at some future time to a suggestion that it necessarily implied that at some time, however distant, His Majesty's Government would make such an agreement. I told his Excellency that I had no wish to bar the conclusion of such an agreement should it ever become possible, but that I was unwilling in a document of such importance to both countries to admit any ambiguity, and that His Majesty's Government could come under no engagement, express or implied, to withdraw His Majesty's forces from Egypt and to entrust to the Egyptian Government alone the whole protection of the lines of communication of the British Empire where they pass through or over Egyptian territory. His Excellency was, however, able to assure me that this was not the intention or meaning of the wording which he had proposed to me. He said that it was his hope that if this treaty were ratified a time would come when His Majesty's Government would feel that it was as safe to leave the defence of Egypt and the protection of British interests in that country to the Government of Egypt as they now felt it safe to leave the protection of similar interests in the Dominions to the Governments of those Dominions. He was well aware that that time was in any case a long way off, and he was content to leave to the absolute discretion of His Majesty's Government the decision as to its possibility. All he asked was that His Majesty's Government should not absolutely bar the possibility of realising an Egyptian aspiration if at some future time His Majesty's Government themselves should become convinced that by the course of Anglo-Egyptian relations the step could then be safely taken.

6. It was on this assurance that I agreed to recommend Sarwat Pasha's proposals to the British Government. I am bound to say that I found my colleagues at first shared my doubts, and for the very reason which I had expressed to his Excellency, namely, their reluctance to use any words which at some future time and by persons unacquainted with what had passed between his Excellency and me might be thought to imply an obligation on His Majesty's Government sooner or later to conclude an agreement of this character. I therefore repeated to His Majesty's Government the explanation which Sarwat Pasha had volunteered to me, and on this

understanding and in pursuance of his Excellency's assurance His Majesty's Government have accepted his text.

7. There were other points in the draft which formed the subject of long and anxious consideration by Sarwat Pasha and myself and which went so clearly beyond my instructions that I was obliged to reserve them specifically for decision by the Cabinet. His Excellency will observe that the objections which I raised have not been maintained by His Majesty's Government, who have thus shown their earnest desire to make the treaty such as Sarwat Pasha could recommend confidently and without reserve to the Egyptian Government and nation.

8. His Excellency may wish me to repeat the assurance which I offered him and which he in turn gave to me, that the words "existing," "present," "already established" and their like in the annex refer to the conditions actually in force at the time when we discussed the draft. They preclude a change in these conditions on either side between that time and the date of ratification of the treaty.

9. I have now the pleasure to inform your Lordship that His Majesty's Government in Great Britain, after communication with His Majesty's Governments in the Dominions and India, accept the draft agreed upon between us of which a copy is attached to this despatch, and that you are authorised to sign the treaty on behalf of His Majesty as soon as his Excellency is in a position to sign for the Egyptian Government. It is our earnest hope that by this treaty, equally honourable to both peoples, ensuring to Egypt her freedom and independence and her due place among the nations of the world, and to the British Empire protection for her vital interests and international obligations, we may have laid the secure foundation of future amity and concord between Egypt and the British Empire.

10. I request that you will read this despatch to Sarwat Pasha and leave a copy of it with his Excellency.

I am, &c.

AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN.

P.S. The text of the treaty which I enclose is in English. As agreed by Sarwat Pasha and myself it is this text which should be signed and which alone is authoritative; but for your convenience in discussing the matter with him I also forward you a French translation.*

A. C.

Enclosure in No. 6.

Draft Treaty.

His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, and His Majesty the King of Egypt,

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* Not printed.

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