'14/115 VIII B 17 Abu Musa Red Oxide' [‎147r] (306/521)

[This Docmneiit is the Property of His Britannic Majesty s Govemment.]
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABU. [September 24.]
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 1.
/
[42511] No. 1.
Foreign Office to India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ,
Sir, Foreign Office, September 24, 1913.
WITH reference to your letter of the 8th July, relative to the question of red
oxide at Abu Musa, I am directed by Secretary Sir Edward Grey to inform you that
the German Charge d'Affaires recently telephoned privately to this Office to say that
Mr, BrowD, a representative of Messrs. Robert Wonckhaus and Co., was in London, and
to suggest that advantage might be taken of this gentleman's presence to discuss the
matter informally in the hope of arriving at a speedier settlement than could be reached
by further official correspondence.
This suggestion having been accepted, Herr von Kiihlmann and Mr. Brown called
forthwith and were received by Mr. Norman and Mr. Malkin.
The various items of Messrs. Wonckhaus's claim for compensation on account of
losses suffered through the interruption of their business were first summarily examined,
and the objections raised by Sir P. Cox in his telegram of the 28th June (copy of which
was enclosed in your letter of the 30th June) to certain of them were pointed out.
(It will be within the Marquess of Crewe's recollection that this claim was formulated
by the firm in accordance with point 1 of the proposal of His Majesty's Government
for a compromise put forward in Sir E. Grey's note to the German Ambassador of the
6th December, 1911.)
* In the course of this examination it was ascertained that the text of the
memorandum by Messrs. Wonckhaus enclosed in the note of Prince Lichnowsky of
the 5th April (copy of which was enclosed in the letter from this Office of the 21st May)
contained an error which had led to some misunderstanding.
The fifteenth paragraph of the memorandum runs, in the English translation, as
follows:—
"1. Our advances to the mining company and the value of the "deposits " on
the island, &c. . .
In this passage the word " objects " should be substituted for the word " deposits,"
and the reference is to the implements, respecting the disappearance of which complaint
has already been made by the firm.
The error arose through the substitution in the original German text communicated
to this Office by Prince Lichnowsky of the word " Grundschichten" for the word
" Gegenstande."
Herr von Kiihlmann eventually observed that, so long as the main question at
issue (dealt with under point 2 of the proposal for a compromise above referred to)
was satisfactorily settled, the claim for compensation under point 1 was relatively
unimportant, and might well be largely reduced and met by the payment of a lump
sum without further enquiry as to the justice of its various component items.
As regards the main question, to which the discussion then passed, Mr. Brown at
first contended that Messrs. Wonckhaus could not carry on the business satisfactorily
unless they themselves were the actual concessionnaires, as they could not trust the
natives of those regions to choose for shipment oxide of the quality required, to clear
the mineral before shipment so as to guarantee punctual delivery. He admitted, how
ever, that Hassan Samaiya was satisfactory from this point of view, an admission
which shows, it may be observed incidentally, that this individual is entirely controlled
by the German firm.
Herr von Iviihlmann and Mr. Brown were informed that there were, in the view of
His Majesty's Government, serious objections to the grant of the concession to
Messrs. W T onckhaus, and Mr. Brown thereupon somewhat abruptly declared that in
that case the firm would be glad to dissociate themselves from the whole business for
a reasonable consideration.
Mr. Brown then put forward orally the proposal embodied in the enclosed
memorandum, and was told that it would be discussed with your Department before
[1863 aa— 1]