'File 60/20 I (C 93) Imperial Bank of Iran: Bahrain, etc' [‎74v] (150/409)

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Imwerkl Bank of Fer-fia would have been better adraed, « a matter oi principle, to
prm for the retention by tkanwires of all the eiehange thej- tocght, and not merely
of 75 per cent. By only asking' for the retention of 75 per eent. they were reatmg ,
f n - ii ' - t f iKx» wrv iinnrsitwi s< nif®it for tfaem.
Ten discuss
the part
Mr ^ere"toLy that "I hare'be«u pressed rather unduK »LWiinrsdf
to telling Mr. I i^emau that I oouldn t help feeling that the lasertion of the clause 1
Lav.- quoted was shorteighted. but, a** the bank deeided to keep it in. and
\)r Liiidenblatt accepted it, I said no more about it. I enclose a note by
Mr Lingeman which confirms what I have written o.-^.e, .
g. I propose to show this despatch to Mr W ilkin^on, chief manager of the
Imoeriai Bank of Persia in lehran,
1 I hare. Arc.
R. H. CLH^E.
Enclosure in No. L
Note by Mr. Lingeman.
ON or about the 3rd May Mr. Rogers showed me his and Mr. iikinson > draft
of the agreement to be concluded between the National Bank and trie Imperial Bank
of Persia- One of the suggestions it contained was to the effect that the Imperial
Bank of Persia should share equally with the National Bank the 50 per cent, of the
other banks purchases. I expressed ^reat surprise at this proviso. I pointed out
that the Imperial Bank in the past had complained, repeatedly and in terms of
profound indignation, of the necessity under which they had been placed of giving
up 50 per cent, of their exchange.* They had declared that it made business
impossible for them. The Ottoman Bank, I presumed, had suffered from this
handicap in exactly the same way. Yet the Imperial Bank of Persia were not only
proposing that it should continue to apply to the Ottoman Bank, but that they (the
Imperial Bank) should benefit by it. I did not think that this was playing cricket,
but., quite apart from the moral aspect of the question, on which I felt very strongly,
a proposal such as this might enable Dr. Lindenblatt, who had been makhig overtures
to the Ottoman Bank of late, to do a lot of mischief.
I spoke to Mr. Rogers just before he was going out to dinner, and did not,
therefore, have much time to go into the question. The opinion I had expressed must
have had some effect on him, however, as the draft which he sent me the next day, and
which I immediately showed to the Minister, had been amended, the disposal of the
50 per cent, exchange surrendered by the other banks being left to the decision of
the National Bank and the Imperial*Bank (see Mr. Rogers's telegram to Sir Hugh
Barnes of the 7th May for confirmation). This alteration made me conclude that
Mr. Rogers and Mr. Wilkinson had changed their views and now realised that it
would be bad policy to claim any part of the exchange surrendered by the other
banks.
The Minister's views on the subject were the same as those I had already
expressed to Mr. Rogers, but I repeated them to the latter at somewhat greater
length, in accordance with the Minister's instructions. I was at pains to explain
that the Minister's concern lest the Imperial Bank should have anything to do with
the disposal of the other banks' purchases was dictated by the interests of the
Imperial Bank itself, but this Mr. Rogers obviously failed to realise. He referred to
the relations between his bank and the Ottoman Bank, which have been anything but
harmonious since the war, and said that he was not here to fight the Ottoman Bank's
battles. Teymourtache, moreover, had told him he was not to worry about any other
bank. In the end Mr. Rogers asked me to redraft the agreement, which I did
without mentioning the other banks. The agreement was signed on the basis of my
redraft, but it was apparently at the last moment, and unbeknown to the Legation,
that a note was added to paragraph 5 stipulating that the other banks would
continue to give up 50 per cent, of their purchases, and that the Imperial Bank would
share the proceeds equally with the National Bank.
E. R. LINGEMAN.
Tehran, June 1, 1930.