what I have stated above, I swear and swear again to it Besides emphasising that he simply wanted to rejoin his wife and children and asserting that he did not wish to be Sultan, Shire swore that he had disavowed his earlier political beliefs and promised to recognise the authority of the British government. These assurances were ineffective. Shire continued to ask for repatriation, but the colonial governors routinely turned down these requests. In order to avoid engendering anti-colonial sentiments, the colonial government imposed edicts which censored letters that exiled individuals sent to their family and compatriots back home. Shire regularly found a way around these controls by utilizing Somali sailors as couriers, with one of these missives arriving in British Somaliland via Ceylon. He and other prominent exiles employed letter-writing as major non-violent political tools of communication, through which they were able to describe their time in exile beyond the Seychelles. In early 1928, Shire brought in a sixteen-year old Seychellois girl as his concubine, a young woman of Indian origin that he had introduced into his living quarters on New Year's Day to attend to his needs. The police officer in charge of political prisoners quickly removed the girl from the premises. He was, however, dismayed by this state of affairs. Fiennes, who was responsible for Shire's safe custody, argued that the Sultan would be more placated if his wife were with him. In an unusual move for a policeman, the officer later penned a letter in which he urged the Governor to reconsider, writing about Shire that: "This man is still young and full of life. It is a pity that he has been sent over here without one of his wives". The protectorate governor rejected this suggestion on the grounds that keeping the Sultan in exile was already costing the authorities R.100 per month. He also suggested that the Sultan could "secure the services of a boy who can be both cook and attendant if he wishes to do so at our expense". Shire was dissatisfied with this compromise, and petitioned instead for what he termed "a respectable woman". Return to the Somaliland Protectorate In May 1928, after some lobbying on Shire's behalf by Governor Byrne, Shire's period of exile in the Seychelles came to an end. He was transported to Aden on board the SS Karapara. Shire returned to the Somaliland Protectorate, promising unwavering loyalty