'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎125r] (260/1904)

fchaikh K -agar to take what steps He pleased against Shaikh Salim, merely sending
a ship to the spot to make sure, that, apart from their quarrel, there should he no
oisturhance oi^ the general peace. Such, it will be remembered, was the course
pursued wnen tohaikh Sagar evicted Hasan Samaiyeh's workmen in October 1907,
A. AL b. ~,apmng oemg deputed to see that no lawlessness occulted: but in 1883
the tact ptobabiy was that the Resident had no ship at his disposal at the moment
ancl tneretore took the next best course he could, namely to sterilize the dispute
by strictly warning ^both parties that they must not break the ma itime truce.
Bat Detause Shaikn bagar loyally bowed to the British Representative's wishes
111 thts directum he cannot reasonably be thereby held to have forfeited rights
wmch he possessed^ as ruling DhaiKh and which he could have made good but for
our action. _ ere it to be contended that Shaikh Salun acquired Abu Musa under
® 1 ^ c . ^o^ditiona, ii would be equivalent to saying that he had been made a present
01 it by the British Government! 1
(2) The revenue from the island of Sir A dollars,
was also assigned to Salim.—I would rather say " expected to bring in" than
' said to amount to."
(3) aon of the British Consular Agent —Residency Agent, not
Consular Agent.
(4) The rent was paid regularly and —Rent was
admittedly received by Shaikh Salim whom Shaikh Sagar allowed to keep whatever
revenue came in from the Island.
(5) This share was y on the 10th October Samaiyeh
Brotvn, a British subject.—On 10th October 1907. That is eight months after
the cancellation of the concession. [It will be'shown later on (item 69) that Hasan
by his own admission had no right to sell this share.]
(6) 2,000 to 5,000 tons of red oxide wer
for four years from the mines on Abu Musa.
another party to deliver 400 tons a year for —This is a misleading
representation of the facts. Except for a quantity of 2,000 tons which Hasan
had already contracted to supply to another party, at the rate of 400 tons per
annum, Wonckhaus acquired an absolute monopoly of the output for four years
and a preferential right to renew at the end of it.
(7) The ostensible ground for this step ha
that the contract for delivery of red oxide Wonckham
his sanction. —It was both his interests and those of Isa bin Abdul Latif which
formed the " ostensible ground" for Shaikh Sagar's action (see also item" 7
of British Memorandum). The Shaikh gave his own reasons for withdrawing
the concession; they were, that Hasan had given a monopoly which he had
no authority to do and had thus made it evident to the Shaikh that his
own rights over Abu Musa might be endangered by the continuance
of the concession in such unsafe hands. He in fact realized that Hasan was actim>
in a way calculated to prejudice his interests, and in his later letter of 26th March
to Hasan (Annex 16 of First German Memorandum) in reply to Hasan's protests
he explained himself furthe^ He said he had concurred in the original concession
because all the parties were British subjects and thus every one concerned was
under his own control or that of the British Government; but he objected to the
admission into, the concern of the subjects of a foreign power over whom
he would have no control He feared that the mines might go out of his posses
sion; and it is clear that the apprehension was not altogether an empty one for in
their letter to the Sh ikh, dated 13th October 1907, Messrs. Wonckhaus wrote •
^ v\ e have paid to them (Hasan, etc.) very considerable advances * * *
and we consider that the oxide lying on the seashore is our property
the mines and the concession are security Again when
Messrs. Wonckhaus's employe, Brown, attempted to land at Abu Musa on 22nd
October 1907 with Haji Ali Tashankar and a number of men from Lingah and
was prevented by the resolute attitude of the Sh; ikh s guards, he was reported by
Lieutenant Gabriel to have had with him a German flag which he intended to erect