'File 0629 Correspondence regarding the land beneath the sea outside territorial waters' [‎35r] (69/94)

British Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ,
Confiden tial. Sharjah,
D.0.No.hl-v-i>ei'.9. February 20,l&o0.
Dear Felly,
Your letter C/S-156 of 17th December 1949 ebout Abu
Dhabi*s arbitration with PeC.L.
2# I have tackled the Shaikh both verbally and in writing
on this subject, but he still claims to be unable to pay the
large sums involved in arbitration by King Councils and
therefore has failed to give a satisfactory reply. I do not
consider there is much chance of his agreeing to undertake
his own case when he hears of Superior Oil Company's parti
cipation in the ^atar arbitration and of their promise to do
so in the case of Dubai.
3. Smith of Superior has not appeared as he promised, and
I think that Shakhbut's inflated deraand-s have probably made
his Company decide to leave the concession alone for the
while, but the Shaikh probably still hopes that they will
eventually prepare his case at arbitration for him. When one
considers the al bu Falah's ignorance of the outside world, it
might be as well in the long run if Superior, or whichever
Company obtains a conditional concession for the Sea Bed
does undertake to provide the Shaikhs legal advice. I cannot
see much progress being made if a Council of brothers decide
to go to London and brief their own Kings Council!
4. It is unfortunate that this question should still be
hanging fire, as it has the effect of straining relations
between the Shaikh and the Company at a time when the Company
can least afford bad relations.
5. The well at Ras Sadr was "spudded in" on 16th February
after a ceremony at which the Shaikh and I were present, we
stayed the night in a special Camp and the excelJent hospi
tality arranged by the Company did.much to restore their
former good relations. It was, therefore, doubly unfortunate
that on the next day, Brigadier Longrigg, accompanied by
Lermitte and Jackson, having arrived by air at Sadr, and
after shaking hands with Shakhbut at the landing-strip, should
have studiously end obviously avoided him in the Camp and
taken off again without a word of warning or explanation or
without even taking leave. As I myself had been invited to
return to Sharjah in the same aircraft, the Shaikh felt that
both of us had been treated in rather cavalier fashion. I
sent a message to Longrigg suggesting he might at least call
in on the Shaikh on his way back to Bahrain, but he could not
see his way to doing this. He may feel I rather exceeded my
duty in trying to teach the Chief of I.P.CIS siyassin how to
behave towards Shaikhs, but if there is ever any ill feeling
between the Shaikh and the Company, I invariably find myself
in the position of having to pull the company's chestnuts out
of the fire , and I therefore felt that my intervention was
not entirely out of place, particularly as the incident was
quite unnecessary.
Yours sincerely,
sd.P.D.Stobart.
,C.J.Felly, Esq., O.B.E.,
Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. ,
Bahrain.