'File 0436/51 Sharjah Air Agreement' [‎45r] (89/200)

y
BRITISFI RESIDENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
CONFIDENTIAL,
BAflRATN,
1389/29
18th July, 1951.
Under cover of his letter 49/12/48 of the 10th December 1948 Sir
Rupert sent you the draft text of the revised civil air agreement,
together with an exchange of letters concerning the use of the airfield
by military aircraft, which it was desired to negotiate with the Shaikh
of Sharjah. The late Shaikh’s provisional agreement to these drafts, as
subsequently modified by us in certain respects and subject to our recon
sideration of the payments to be made to him, was given in a letter which
he addressed to the Political Officer, Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. on February 9th 1949
(your reference C/^-63 of February 12th 1949). Agreement has now been
reached by the Departments concerned in London on the final text to which
it is desired that the Shaikh’s agreement be obtained and I enclose here
with four copies of
(i) The Heads of Agreement.
(ii) The exchange of letters about the use of the airfield by
military aircraft.
(iii) The Air Navigation Regulations
and I am to request you to arran e for the Shaikh's agreement to these
texts to be obtained.
2. Amendments to the Heads of Agreement have been reduced to the minimum
and the following are the only ones of any substance :-
Article 1 . The word "operate' 1 has been substituted for "use",
since we are not claiming exclusive rights of usage and the second part
of the article has been deleted in view of the possibility of our wishing
to extend the existing airfield or to establish a new one at some time in
the future.
Article 3% which is based on the corresponding article in the recently
concluded Kuwait Civil Air Agreement, is self-explanatory. Its inclusion
is not absolutely necessary, but there does not appear to be any ground
on which the Shaikh could object to it.
Article ll(i) . The rates of pay for the guards, as also those
presented in the exchange of letters, are those which Wilton recently
offered to the Shaikh and to which the latter agreed. (Pinhey's letter
C13/3/13/51 of I/.arch 2?th to me refers.) They are described in terms
of basic pay and cost of living allowance as proposed in paragraph 3 of
Sir Rupert's despatch No.14 of larch 1st 1949 (81/8/49).
Article 11(ii) . The figure of Rs.1420/- per month comprises the ori-
ginal rent of^ ?s. 1000/- plus an increase of Rs.420/- in respect of the
recent extension. This figure has been arrived at by assessing the rent
of the extension (37 acres) at the same rate as the original rent for the
original airfield (Rs.1000/- for 88 acres). This increased sum may be
offered to the Ruler retrospectively to July 22nd 1950, the date on which
the land was handed over to the Royal Air Force {your Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. 's letter
013/3/16/51 of April 16th).
/Article 11(iii)
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.