'File 61/22 I (D 116) Bahra Agreement: meeting of tribunal under the ---, 1930. Also bound with this file is 61/23:- treaty between Nejd & Kuwait' [‎36v] (82/422)

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the settlement of Iraq claims. His Excellency understood Your Excellency to
sav in the course of a recent conversation with him that the Iraq Government had
decided to present the claims of their tribes before the Tribunal to be convened
under Article 2 of the Bahra Agreement in preference to accepting a lump sum
payment from King Ibn Saud. In that case it will be necessary to proceed
immediately with the arrangements for the meeting of the Tribunal at Kuwait.
As Your Excellency is aware it is probable that the President of the Tribunal
w 11 be Major T. C. Fowle though I still await the Secretary of State's final decision
on this point. In the meantime Major Fowle has made certain suggestions as to
the procedure to be followed on which I should be glad to receive the views of
Your Excellency as soon as possible.
Major Fowle's suggestions may be summarised as follows :—
(1) Lists of claims should be exchanged forthwith betweenthe Nejd and Iraq
Governments, copies being sent to the President of the Iribunal
for information.
(2) Certain conditions should be agreed to in advance by both Governments,
viz. :—
(а) 1st November 1927, will be taken as the starting point for the liquida
tion of losses. No account will be taken of raids committed prior
to that date ; all raids which may have occurred between that date
and the date of the meeting of the Tribunal will be covered by the
Tribunal.
(б) It will be open to the Tribunal to call any witnesses they may think
necessary provided such witnesses are summoned through the
Government to whom they may be subject.
(c) Should the Nejd and Iraq members of the Tribunal disagree, the deci
sion of the President shall be accepted as final and binding on both
parties.
{d) The remuneration of the arbitrator and the expenses incurred in
connection with the Tribunal shall be borne by the Government
of the Hejaz and Nejd and by the Government of Iraq equally.
Major Fowle presumes that as regards the procedure of the Tribunal tribal
custom will be followed as far as possible, but enquires what procedure will be
followed when the tribal customs of the Iraqi and Nejdi tribes differ. His Excel
lency suggests that it is impossible to legislate for such cases in advance and that
it should be left to the discretion of the President to adopt such procedure as h^
thinks fit.
His Excellency wishes Your Excellency to understand that the suggestions
contained in this letter are merely tentative and that he is as yet unaware of the
views of the Secretary of State on them. As the time is pressing, however, he would
be glad to know as soon as possible, for the information of His Britannic
Majesty's Government, the views of the Iraq Government, on the various points
raised.
A copy of this letter is being sent to the Rais of the Royal Diwan.
Enclosure 2 to Serial No. (101).
Letter from the Prime Minister of the Iraq Administration, to His Excel- I
LENCY THE hlgh commissioner for iraq, No. 1423, dated the 7th M a Y
1930. > "•
I have seen Your Excellency's letter No. P. O .-102, dated 20th April 1930,
[Serial No. (87)], on the subject of the amount of compensation to be paid to Iraq
tribes by the Government of Nejd.
It is understood in this connection that His Majesty Ibn Saud had deposited
at the Bank in Jeddah a sum of £10,000 to compensate Iraq tribes for the loss and
damage sustained by them. When this question came under discussion at the
Lupin Conference the representatives of the Iraq Government could not help
showing their astonishment at the insignificance of this sum, since the actual lo ses
sustained by Iraq tribes, according to officially compiled lists, exceed £60,000.
Ai last His Majesty Ibn Saud left the question of compensation and the determina '
tion of the amount necessary therefor to the discretion of His Majesty King Faisal,