'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎43v] (97/1904)

man of-war " Lapwing," on board of which is said to have been Lieutenant C. H.
Gabriel, British Consul at Bander Abbas.
When a few days later, after the departure of the British man-of-war, the British
subject, Mr. Thomas Brown, in the employment of the German firm R. Wonckhaus, who
are partners in the Company, and later another employe, said to be a German, ot the
same house approached the island in order to land there, they were compelled to return
by shots from the Sheikh's armed men.
By the forcible measures and the apparently in every respect illegal conduct of the
Sheikh of Shargah, the Company—and as far as regards their share in the Company
the German firm R. Wonckhaus and Co.—have been prevented from enjoying the
lease granted to the Company by the proprietor of the mines, Salem-bin Sultan, the
uncle of the reigning Sheikh. The Company is thereby suffering losses since they
have entered into contracts to deliver fixed quantities of iron oxide at a fixed price
(Inclosures 6, 19).
In particular, the managing partner has entered into a contract (Inclosure 5), dated
the Ist June, 1906, with the German merchant, Herr Robert Wonckhaus, of Lingah
(partner in the above-mentioned firm K. Wonckhaus and Co.), under which 2,000
to 5,000 tons are to be delivered yearly, for four years to Herr Wonckhaus from the
Abu Musa mines. The Company have also undertaken to deliver 400 tons yearly during
five years in India (Inclosure 19).
In both cases it is clearly a question of perfectly legitimate business operations as
practised all over the world.
The documents in possession of the Imperial Government lead them to certain
conclusions with regard to the motives wnich have caused this conduct on the part of the
Sheikh. In the above-mentioned communications from the Sheikh to the managing
partner, Mr. Samaye, it is said :—
1. That the young Isa-bin-Abdul Latif, one of the partners in the Company, had
complained to him, the Sheikh, that the contract with Robert Wonckhaus had been
concluded without his previous knowledge. This partner and he, the Sheikh, did not
approve the contract. Samaye was not entitled without their approval to conclude a
contract with regard to the whole production of the mines for a long period. They
would suffer losses if they approved the contract (Inclosure 12);
2. That the Sheikh feared that the mines and the island might be taken out of his
possession {Inclosure 18, Confidential, also Inclosure 20);
3. That in the lease of 1 h98 there was no provision allowing the whole production
of the mines to be transferred to a foreigner without his approval. The Sheikh is thus
speaking as if he had himself concluded the lease of 1898 with the lessors' Company
(Inclosare 22).
It is obvious that the Sheikh Sejrger-bin-Chalid did not conclude the lease of 1898
(Inclosure 1). This was done by his uncle, Salem-bin-Sultan, acting within his own
rights, and the Sheikh recognized this by the fact that he himself was for a certain time
a partner in the Company.
It is true that the lease of 1898 contained no provision with regard to the sale of
the production of the mines to foreigners. In view of the recognized liberty of trade
in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. it is to be inferred from the omission of such a prohibition that the
conclusion of contracts with foreigners was without doubt within the powers of the
Company, and not the reverse.
The contract concluded in June 1906 between the Company and the German
Herr R. Wonckhaus, to which the Sheikh refers is, therefore, according to the lease
granted in 1898 by the Sheikh's uncle, absolutely admissible and legally unassailable.
The Sheikh's fear that in consequence of the contract he might lose possession of the
mines and the island is senseless. Apart from the fact that the mines do not belong to
the Sheikh but to his Uncle Salem, the contract only grants to Herr Wonckhaus the right
to receive at a fixed price during the fixed time of four years the greater part of the
production of the mines—an arrangement such as any merchant could conclude when
the opportunity offered. The contract does not refer lo the acquisition of the mines
themselves or of the Island of Abu Musa, or to any separation of the island from the
Sheikh's territory, and it has no such aim in view. II err Wonckhaus is a merchant like
any other, he is not pursuing any political objects, and in concluding the contract he
has only made use of the right belonging to him, as to every merchant, to transact
business which appears profitable to him.
It is not true, as is shown by the contract of 1906, to say that Herr Wonckhaus has
bought the whole production of the mines. But even if he had done so there would