'File 8/39 A. S. L. O.'s [Air Staff Liaison Officer] Reports' [‎36r] (71/416)

Lo.cal, NQ-vys t (Contdi)
(ii) The Kuwait G-overmient have issued Qoraneraorative labels bearing
the likeness of the Sheikh for the 26th anniversary of his accession*
About 8000 wore printed and distributed free for affixing to letters*
The Sheikh and many Kuwaiti os appear to be under the impression that
those labels will bring Kuwait to fame among philatelists,
(iii) Members of the Educational Mission in Kuwait gave a sumptuous tea
party on the 11th in honour of the birthday of King Parouk. The gathering,
which included the 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. , members of the .^s-oubah faiiiily, and
notables of the town, was subjected to a speech, a poem, and a son 0 in
Arabic, The Egyptian National .onthem vra.s played twice. The elaborate core
with which this entertniivaent was staged* Advertised, and photographically
recorded, would appear to lend colour to the report that one of the miss-
deeds laid at the door .>f the previous Director of Education was lack of
enthusiasm in celebrating King Parouk* s birthday.
(iv) One Monsieur Amouray de Eienrouft, a Prench national arrived here
from Riyadh en route to Basrah n the 1.5th, He is s&id to be roving
correspondent of "Review of i/orld .affairs 1 ' and was the guest of King Ibn
Baud for a week* He did not call at the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. .
(v) Kuwait has been enjoying an unprecedented shipping boom and on the
13 th there were actually 7 cargo vosaeli in the anchorage at the -same time
with some 10,000 tons of cargo to discharge. Mr, Suntor of Gray, Maokan^i^,
Basrah, had to visit Kuwait and send 3 vessels to Bandar Shapur to unload
there and rerturrt to Kuwait later, as the local landing and transportation
company could not have started to unload them for some weeks. He has it is
understood, warned shipping companies to load n:> more cargo for Kuwait until
April. Most of this cargo is for the Kuwait Oil Company who are greafcty
handicapped by lack of tugs.
The Kuwait Landing Company are obtaining a barge from Iraq and are
having 3 more large lighters built locally. Further expansion on their
part would be of little benefit as the Customs facilities would be inade
quate for dealing with the cargo at the shore end. The local authorities are
fully alive to the position but there seems to be little more they can do.
(vi) The Sheikh’s cousin Subah an Naair appears almost to have cons
tituted the North-East part of Kuwait territory into a fief. He levies
toll in kind on all bedouin camping there and occasionally sends Sheikh
/Aimed a small proportion of the lo3t as a present. He seems to be making
Jahra his quarters for the time being and to be amassing an ever-growing
fleet of lorries,
(vii) General L*J, Sverdrup, C.3,3. of the American fim of Sverdrup &
Jhircoll, consulting engineers, Mr, Don L, Sullivan, U,S, Oil attache in
Cairo, and Mr, 7,E, Bailey arrived by air on the 5th and left next da/.
General Sverdrup’s firm is underst od to be interested in the construction
of the tran 3 ****rabian pipe-line, which, he said, is to start in the autumn.
The pipe is to be of 30" diameter and the U.S* mills will supply ARKwCO
With their full requirements before selling any pipe to the -.k,l,0,C, Much
of the pipe may be unloaded at Ras Kishaao just south of the Neutral Zone,
(viii) There has been yet another outbreak of fire in the bazaar. This time
in a coffee-shop which was completely gutted, Kuwait is still without a
fire-engine, ,-r>
DISTRIBUTION :
1, Senior Intelligence Officer, .JIQ, Iraq,
Chief Intelligence Officer, HQ>R.3P,M5mM£,
Staff Officer Intelligence, RN, P.Gulf,
The Hon* able the 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. , P,Gulf,
HfB.M* s 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. vX*
» " " Kuwait,
" ” ” Muscat*
Senior Intelligence Officer, AHQ, Aden,
Pile,
.'k-L'**-'
2 ,
3 *
4 ,
5 *
6 ,
7 *
8 ,
%
(p, R. M. WIIA-TAMS)
V/ing Commander
.Ar Staff Liaison Officer
PERSLJ1 GULP.