File 1855/1904 Pt 4 'Koweit:- Loans to Sheikh.' [‎114v] (228/242)

10. Koweit .—It is reported (7th May) that
three dhows recently arrived at Koweit from
Maskat with 2,000 rifles on board. Of
these, 700 belonged to Mons. Goguyer, and the
rest to different Koweit merchants. The
masters of the boats expressed unwillingness to
ship the arms, hut consented on being furnished
by Mons. Goguyer with a paper indemni
fying them against loss and dangers of search
by men-of-war. Sheikh Mubarak has set
apart a house for Haji Ali Dahaba, Mons.
Goguyer’s Native Agent Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government. . The latter arrived at
Koweit with Mons. Goguyer’s nephew, Mons.
Elbaz, who has returned to Maskat.
11 . The Government of India have sane-
tioned the grant to the Sheikh of Koweit of a
loan of Us. 1 , 00,000 to meet the payment
due to his nephews under the recent arbitration
award. The only condition of the loan is that,
pending its repayment, the Sheikh shall borrow
from no other source.
12 . In a recent despatch the Government
of India addressed the Secretary of State on the
subject of the Turkish posts established in 1902
at Um Kasr on the mainland at the head of
the Khor Abdulla and at A1 Geit on the island
of Bubiyan. Both Um Kasr and Bubiyan are
claimed by the Sheikh of Koweit. It was
pointed out that the shores of the Khor Abdulla
provide what is probably the best and most
probable terminus for the projected Baghdad
Railway, that it was, therefore, necessary
to secure our interests in this quarter, and
that, though Mubarak’s pretensions to Um
Kasr are not strong, his claims to Bubiyan
island are good and sustainable. It was pro
posed that either ( 1 ) the Porte should be
informed that their right to maintain a
station on Bubiyan cannot be recognised, and
that we should simultaneously establish a
post on behalf of Mubarak on the northern
end of the island; or ( 2 ) that we should
intimate that Bubiyan is regarded as belon^in^
to the Sheikh, and, unless the Turkish forcTl
withdrawn, we shall be constrained to support
him in establishing a post on the northern shore
to balance the posts at Um Kasr and A1 Geit.
On the 18th May, the Secretary of State
telegraphed that Sir N. O’Conor had been
authorised to complain to the Porte of the
continued maintenance of a Turkish mili
tary station on the south-east corner of the
island and to press for its withdrawal, and
that, if these representations remained for
some time without effect, the active measures
for supporting the authority of the Sheikh
of Koweit recommended by the Indian Govern
ment would be considered further.
13. Nejd .—It is stated that Ibn Rashid
recently represented to the Porte that the
successes of Abdul Aziz A1 Saud in Nejd and
El Kassim were due to the secret support of a