File 1421/1908 Pt 3 'Persia: oil; negotiations between the Shaikh of Mohammerah and the Anglo-Persian Oil Co.' [‎280r] (125/338)

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3. It further appears that your Company, whilst prepared to comoensate for
the ^ ur f a ce value of the land taken up, is not prepared to pay the Shaikh anythin?
further though ,t nught be willing to make l/m some gra^uitous payment m hf
event of o.l betng tapped m hts lands, with the proviso, presumably, that it is
tapped m paying quantities. y ’ 15
The proposal to interest the Shaikh financially in the prosperity of the con
cern, were o.l to be tapped, and worked, by giving him 3 per cent of the ordinary
shares of any Company formed to work oil in the territory under his control is
not accepted by the Directors, it not being intended to form a special Company
!K ga 4 h tf r -|!h at y ° Ur , Dlrectors woul . d be equally averse to any other scheme whereby
the Shaikh received a payment of any kind calculated on the profits to be derived
• r °tT 1 ' n ' T St ^ hwaz ’ as the y decline to recognise that he has any rights
in the minerals in or below the lands. y * 15
j rv * J^ Shai !< h 0WnS l th ? se lands in virtue of Armans granted by Muzaffar-
ud-Din Shah in the month of Shawal 1320 (January 1903). One farman which
relates to the Karun lands (which in common parlance include Ahwaz), ’ grants
he said lands to him and to h.s tribes in perpetuity : it prohibits him and h s
tribes from transferring or selling the lands to foreigners, and - permits and
^every 1 imh™ eXerC,Se ' n th6 Sa ‘ d ' ands the P osses “ry rights of ownership
A further farman of the same date grants to the Shaikh personally, among
t0 the 6331 ° f the Karun ” ( no mention being made ol
the tribes of the Shaikh) on the same conditions as the lands above referred to.
5. These farmans were obtained as a quid fro quo in exchange for the
surrender ot va.uable privileges enjoyed by the Shaikh previous to 1003. They
grant to him in the most definite way the complete ownership of the land, and he
may fairly point out, if his claim to mineral rights be contested, that he paid a
heavy price for the farman, and that his rights must be respected. I may remark
that when the agreement was being discussed in June and July iqoq the Shaikh
was not aware of the precise wording of his farman, and beyond a general re
collection that it gave him complete rights over the lands, could give us no in
formation as to its scope, it was only early in this year that the original far-
Tu . we I [ e . brou g ht out b y the ^aikh and scrutinized by him, with the assistance
o naji Kais, true copies being taken for the use of His Majesty’s Government.
6 On the other hand, your Directors may equally truly say that they have
paid a heavy price for their concession and expect to be put in possession of
their rights and to be compensated if they have to purchase from others the
mineral and other rights for which they paid the Persian Government in 1901.
7* The date of Mr. D’Arcy’s concession is 1901, two years previous to that 1
of the Shaikh s farmans, and it may therefore reasonably be urged that the
Persian Government had no right or power to give to the Shaikh exclusive and
complete rights of ownership over the said lands. But the Shaikh may reply
that the Persian Government had no right in his lands, which were never in the
gift of the Persian Government, and this contention would gain force from the
fact that it is admitted in the first farman that the Karun lands have been in the
possession of the forefathers of the present Shaikh and his tribes.
8. The position is a difficult one, and in approaching it I would remind you
that my object in advocating an arrangement whereby the Shaikh would be
financially interested in the prosperity of the oil wells at Ahwaz, if worked, was
to secure the co-operation of the local authorities with the Company in the future
as well as for the present.
The Government of this country shows no tendency to centralize itself at,
Tehran or to become stronger relatively to the local authorities, and it is in my
opinion important that the Company should not have to rely on pressure from
Tehran for the accomplishment of its aims.
I hat it has been able to push forward its works in Arabistan unhampered
by the slightest local opposition, untroubled with theft or robbery, and in friendly
co-operation with the local authorities is due to the fact that we have hitherto