CO537-4825 — Page 41

*

4

hi refped Smith.

b. Paskin.

B.9/12

With refence the thes with an affairs with kms below.

In a paper by Fanguon the Assyrians dated 26th July, 1946 (No. 12 on 14857/48), the following information is given about them:-

"The Assyrians had, for many years previous to the last war, been recruited by the R.A.F. for the Levy Forces, whose duty was to defend British airfields in Iraq. When Rashid Ali revolted and sent the Iraqi army to attack our air-base at Habbanyah in May, 1941, Assyrian units of the Levies stoutly defended it and afterwards took a notable part in the counter-offensive undertaken by our forces...

Since 1941 the British authorities in the Middle East have, in their efforts to deal with the shortage of manpower, greatly expanded the R.A. F. Levies and have recruited almost every available Assyrian of military age in Iraq and Syria. The expanded R.A.F. Levies have served not only in Iraq, but also in many other parts of the Middle East, including Syria and Cyprus, and have won high praise from their British officers."

An earlier assessment on the Assyrians as soldiers will be found in annex II in Foreign Office print Eastern 2048/1/93 on Assyrian settlement (copy behind No. 8 on 58911/1/48 at present with the Secretary of State).

In North Borneo, where it is at present proposed to recruit 50 Assyrians for incorporation in the North Borneo Armed Constabulary, they will replace a number of Sikhs and Pathans recruited before the war. This will afford an opportunity of seeing whether they can, in fact, conveniently be 'assimilated' in North Borneo, and would be regarded as a 'pilot' scheme which, if successful, would pave the way to immigration on a much larger scale. I understand that it is proposed that, if the scheme is approved, these Assyrians should be accompanied by their wives and families, who are at present living in the married line at Habbanyah.

There is also, I understand, under consideration a proposal to settle Assyrians in a large way in Brazil, but it does not look as if this is likely to reach maturity in the near future.

auendimed

The Assyrians are endre to cold winters with snow, and dry summers, so climate should not, therefore, be any obstacle to their utilisation in Hong Kong if, on other grounds, that is practicable. The existing terms of engagement will be found as an enclosure to No. 28 on 58911/1/48/at present with the Secretary of State) The numbers are put A 30000 at 20,000/Assyrians in Iraq whom the Foreign Office would

like to see re-settled.

But so far as the possibility of using the Assyrians in Hong Kong for the Police Force or Frontier Force is concerned, several important questions arise:-

(a) What would be their value with no knowledge of

Chinese, where the whole population is Chinese?

(i) For use as Police it seems to me that

their value would be likely to be small; but

(ii) for use as an armed frontier guard, with

instructions e.g. to shoot at sight anyone trying to get through a barbed wire barrier, their value would probably be greater.

Incantần

/ (b) We