'File 19/212 II (C 47) Bahrain Transit Trade' [‎76r] (165/538)

Telegram
From
To
M
{aaa X^ *& i • / ^'
Ovjisii. M 1^^. 7lHci l •)
XX
H # M # 1 s Minister, Jedda,
Foreign Secretary to the Gorernaient of India
Simla, jno .13. '
Repeated to Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Bushire. J^o.SO.
Dated 20th ( received aist ) April, 1933 #
HO
Following is repetition of my telegram JWo.69
of April 17th to Foreign Olfice, begins:-
jTour telegram 39•
I strongly deprecate aecond alternative, both
for the reaaona you give and because it would make Ibn Saud
even readier than he will in any caee.be, to contend that the
1920 arrangeme/it was in reality bilateral.
I understand position to be that Bahrain Government,
notwi-shstanding recent grant of fiscal autono^. are prepared to
maintain transit duty of two per cent, and merely wish to
ensure payment thereof on goods which havo
tWUCw a e reoentl y escaped
or x tmut») A escape it.
If this assumption is correct I suggest that best
course would be to inform Saudi Government officially and without
oral preliminaries which I previously contemplated that changes
since 1920, both as regards the facilities afforded by port
improvements at Bahrain and as regards methods of handling
goods for the mainland, as well as financial necessities, maice
it necessary not to increase dues but to ensure their payment
"n all goods, including over-side goods handled at Bahrain; that
H" Majesty's Government, who have granted fiscal autonomy to
Bahrain, regard the 1920 arrangement as unilateral and terminable;
that being anxious to reconcile the interests of all con-
0 ^ned, they propose conference on tile lines indicated in your
telegram Ko,18.
/ '