'File 10/3 IV Qatar Oil Concession' [‎94r] (218/534)

.Z. 1933/1934,
S 1766/279/91.
-U4"
'OREIQN OFFIQ1, o. . .1.
21st March 1934«
Iviy dear Giloert,
xou will remember my telling you this morning
that I was a little uneasy on one point in connexion with
the Question of the Q,atar boundariesj i.e. lest we should
have weakened our position with Ibn Saud in re ;ard to the
"blue line by our failure to give him copies of the Anglo
Turkish Conventions oi 1913 and 1914 establishing that line,
when, in 1927, he asked us (see Sir G. Clayton's report
of June 8th 1927, of which we sent you a copy in our
letter No .S 2585/119/91 of July 7 1927) for "copies of all
existing treaties and agreements between His majesty's
Government and the various rulers and chiefs in Arabia and
on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ".
2o It had occurred to me that Ion Saud might well
contend that his object in asking us for these documents
was in order to know exactly how he stood with regard to
our claims and position generally in Arabia, and that the
fact that we did not co.mnunicate to him the treaty
instruments laying down the blue line left him iree to ignore
that line if he wished to. He could probably argue that he
had no knowledge of the Anglo Turkish Conventions or at any
rate of the ratification of the 1914 Convention, and oiiac do
nobody appeared to have established any efxective clciim t-
the hinterland of 4atar to the east of cue olue Hj - hj , lie v ,ao
perfectly free in the aosence of any warning to the contrary
from us or from the Sheikh of Qatar to establish Akhwan
Colonies there and generally bring this area unaex nib
authority if he wished to do so.
j have now referred the point to malkin and am glad
to say that he does not tafce this risk very seriously. In
his view, when Ion Saud asked for "copies of all existing
treaties/
UPfMAITE, ESQ,. ,
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