question: What were these letters from World War I authored by British High Commissioner to Egypt on the political status of lands under the Ottoman Empire that came to attention during the Cairo Conference?
answer: the McMahon letters
context: Title: McMahon–Hussein Correspondence
  Passage: The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence, or the Hussein–McMahon Correspondence, was a series of ten letters exchanged from July 1915 to March 1916, during World War I, between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, and Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner to Egypt, concerning the political status of lands under the Ottoman Empire.  In the letters Britain agreed to recognize Arab independence after World War I "in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif of Mecca", with the exception of "portions of Syria" lying to the west of "the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo", in exchange for launching the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans as a "quid pro quo".
  Title: Canadian High Commissioners to Newfoundland
  Passage: The Canadian High Commission to Newfoundland was opened in 1941 for purposes of co-ordinating the war effort and in particular defence during World War II.  When Canada negotiated with the United Kingdom government about the appointment of Canadian High Commissioner to Newfoundland, it also asked that a reciprocal representative of Newfoundland be stationed in Ottawa.  The British government refused to consider an appointment of a representative with the rank of High Commissioner as Newfoundland was no longer fully self-governing and instead suggested that the Canadian government accept an Agent-General for Newfoundland who would be appointed to both Ottawa and Washington, D.C. and that the Agent's role be confined to "supply, commercial, and technical questions" and that political matters be directed instead to the British High Commission in Ottawa.  The Canadian government rejected the dual appointment and suggested the appointment of an Accredited Representative.  The negotiations were never resolved.
  Title: Greco-Turkish War (1897)
  Passage: The Greco-Turkish War of 1897, also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (Greek: Μαύρο '97 , "Mauro '97") or the Unfortunate War (Ατυχής πόλεμος, "Atychis polemos"), was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and the Ottoman Empire.  Its immediate cause was the question over the status of the Ottoman province of Crete, whose Greek majority long desired union with Greece.  Despite the Ottoman victory at the field, an autonomous Cretan State under Ottoman suzerainty was established the following year (as a result of the intervention of the Great Powers after the war), with Prince George of Greece and Denmark as its first High Commissioner.
  Title: Cairo Conference (1921)
  Passage: The 1921 Cairo Conference, described in the official minutes as Middle East Conference held in Cairo and Jerusalem, March 12 to 30, 1921, was a series of meetings by British officials for examining and discussing Middle Eastern problems, and to frame a common policy.  Particular concerns of the conference related to resolving the conflicting policies defined in the McMahon letters (1915), the Sykes-Picot agreement (1916) and the Balfour Declaration (1917).  Winston Churchill, the newly appointed Colonial Secretary, called all the British Military Leaders and civil administrators in the Middle East to a conference at the Semiramis hotel in Cairo to discuss these issues.  It was an experimental conference organized by the Colonial Office, with the purpose to solve problems more efficiently, with improved communications, without protracted correspondence.
  Title: Victoria Treadell
  Passage: Victoria "Vicki" Marguerite Treadell CMG MVO (born 4 November 1959) is the current British High Commissioner to Malaysia and has been in the posting since October 2014.  She is the former British High Commissioner to New Zealand and Samoa, and Governor of the Pitcairn Islands.
  Title: Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–17)
  Passage: The Ottoman–Mamluk War of 1516–1517 was the second major conflict between the Egypt-based Mamluk Sultanate and the Ottoman Empire, which led to the fall of the Mamluk Sultanate and the incorporation of the Levant, Egypt and the Hejaz as provinces of the Ottoman Empire.  The war transformed the Ottoman Empire from a realm at the margins of the Islamic world, mainly located in Anatolia and the Balkans, to a huge empire encompassing the traditional lands of Islam, including the cities of Mecca, Cairo, Damascus and Aleppo.  It continued to be ruled however from Constantinople.
citations: Cairo Conference (1921) McMahon–Hussein Correspondence