'File 38/1 II P. C. L. Exploration' [‎16r] (31/148)

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Dated the 12th May,1948«
Dear Stchart,
1 have already given you verbally full details
regarding my talks with the Sultan during the last few days
and am writing this letter in confirmation,,
2. I came here with the intention of letting the Sultan
know what I had been doing in BARAIMI* I told him that I
had negotiated with the AL BU SHAMIS and BU KHURAIBAN (NA»IM)
to allow the Company to explore their lands. I told his
Highness that I had paid these two tribes and had taken from
them letters confirming their understanding that the Company
would be allowed to explore for 3 years extendable at the
Company^ option to 5 years and stipulating the sum which
would be paid to the sheikhs yearly in token of their agreement.
I explained that no replies had been given by me to the Sheikhs*
letters which were designed primarily to prevent them increasing
their demands each year and which could be considered as receipts
rather.than contracts since they were letters from one party
only.
3« The Sultan was extremely perturbed by the Company's
direct approach to the tribes and maintained that he had
never agreed to that procedure. I explained that we had been
given to understand that he would say nothing if the Company
approached the tribes direct but would, of course, retain the
right to object at a later date if he considered it necessary.
The Sultan flatly denied that he had ever given his
consent, tacit or otherwise, to such a course which he
considered was in direct violation of Article 12 ( I think )
of the Concession which stipulated that the Company would
enter only those areas which he declared safe. His Highness
then explained that in 1939 he had informed the Company that
he could and would arrange for their entry to the DHAHIRA
but had been unable to agree to the use of cars. The position,
he maintained, was in 1948 the same as in 1939 i.e. he could
and would, if asked by the Company, arrange for their entry
into the DHAHIRA. The Sultan declared that he had not been
told of the Company's intentions to which he would never have
agreed and he said that the misunderstanding arose because
what he actually said to the Consul in 1946 was that if the
Company chose to enter the DHAKIRA ( under his auspices )
by car they could do so at their own risk. He was, therefore,
extremely worried about the effects of the Company's direct
approach to the tribes, and he feared that the AL BU SHAMIS
negotiations would tend to encourage every tribe in the
DHAHIRA to assert its independence by dealing direct with us.
This, then, was the position I discovered on arrival here
after my first meeting with His Highness.
He told me, later, that he had intended invoking 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. 's support to stop our work in the DHAHIRA
since it violated the Concession thus demonstrating his
authority to the tribes there. He would then have forced
them to work with him, but, fortunately, we have avoided
things coming to that pass.
4 . I have, as you know, had long talks with him every
day since my arrival and we have finally agreed as follows:
(a)
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