ملف 10/5 II نفط الأحساء: أنشطة شركة كاسوك في الأحساء؛ وتطوير رأس التنورة؛ وزيارة الوكيل السياسي إلى الأحساء [و‎‎٨‎٤] (٦٥٦/١٨٢)

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4. This, so Wills said, was a possible, although
highly inconvenient, arrangement so far as the labour side of
the question was concerned. But it did not solve the problem
of checking and passing the goods on shore. There was no
such thing as a trained Saudi-Arabian tally clerk, even if the
firm were willing to he represented exclusively "by Saudi
Arabians. For a start at least it was essential that a
European manager and a Bahrein assistant should be allowed to
live at the port. They were Quite willing to pay the Saudi
Government the same "fine 0 of 10% as they paid the Bahrein
Government on the business which they handled.
5. Wills said he fully realised the natural reluctance
of the Saudi Arabian authorities to complicate matters for
themselves by allowing stray Europeans to live in places where
their presence was not absolutely essential. He did not ask
for representations or enquiries at this stage, assuming the
Foreign Office were willing to make them, as he found that in
these affairs it usually paid to take the line that the firm
was working in the Saudi Arabian interest, wished to conform
in every way to the requirements of the Saudi Arabian
authorities, and to take things up direct with the authorities
as a Saudi firm would. The difficulty, however, was how to
get at these authorities. It was useless trying to do anything
on the Hasa Coast and it was no use, according to Sir Reader
Bullard, sending anyone to Jedda.
6. In the circumstances, he thought (since I had told
him that there were no Ministers in the suite of the two Bmirs)
that it would be well for him to go to see the Saudi Arabian
Minister in London, tacitly assuming that the restriction
on landing applied only to lighter cre¥/s, and ask for advice
as to how his manager and assistant should proceed with
regard to visas, local registration, etc. This would at
least lead to an enquiry from the Minister, (i.e. from another
quarter), reaching the Saudi Government, and probably the
King/