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File 4949/1912 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf: Abu Musa oxide’ [‎129v] (267/566)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (277 folios). It was created in 26 Oct 1912-15 May 1923. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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year, Mr. Strict considers that this could not exceed 2 000 tons, or the m.mmum
quantity stipulated for in Messrs. Wonckhaus’s contract of 1906. Mr Holmes explained
that shipping arrangements at Abu Musa are more primitive if possible than the mmmg
methods themselves. There is nothing but an open roadstead and the oxide has _
apparently to be shipped from boats pushed out from the shore by nat.ves a mode off^
procedure which renders it impossible to ship more than 10 tons a day at the outside.
On account of the heat prevalent during a laige part of the year and variations m
weather conditions, it is not possible to allow for more than 200 days during which
shipping operations can be carried on. • i <? xi • + +
It is apparent, therefore, that during the unexpired period of their contract two
years and eight months) Messrs. Wonckhaus could not have expected to ship more than
5,500 tons of oxide. . „ . . •■ur n+n
3. It has already been stated that the “Louise shipment is believed to have
represented a fair sample of average Abu Musa oxide. It is true that Messrs. Wonckhaus
stipulated in their contract that the oxide should be of the same quality as the
700 tons shipped by Mr. Robert Wonckhaus ” in March, 1906 (i.e., the trial, shipment
by the steamship “ Stolzenfels ”), which it is claimed was sold at an average price of
65s per ton. Mr. Strict is, however, at a loss to understand how this oxide could have
been sold for more than 55s. per ton, which would be a fair price for the very best
quality of oxide producible in Abu Musa, which can only be procured in extremely
limited quantities from one small working. He is positive that 60 s. a ton could not
have been obtained for it, unless it was sold at infrequent intervals and in very small
quantities as the exigencies of demand might permit. Indeed, 65s. is the price of
Hormuz oxide, which, being the finest quality on the market, is considerably superior
to the best quality of Abu Musa oxide referred to above. Had a large amount of
inferior oxide from Abu Musa been brought into competition with the Hormuz supply
the sale price of the latter would, in Mr. Striek’s opinion have been speedily reduced,
with the result that Abu Musa oxide would have been displaced, and left on Messrs.
Wonckhaus’s hands. The market, it is alleged, can only absorb from 6,000 to 7,000 tons
of oxide a year from all quarters. A/r , 11
The selling price of Abu Musa oxide in Germany, according to Mr. btrick, would
be about 40s. a ton. Even that price could, in his opinion, only be mamtame wit
difficulty, having regard especially to the length of time (over two years) which elapsed
before Messrs. Wdndkiiaus were able to sell the 1810 tons which they shipped by the
“ Louise”—a delay in no wise to lie accounted for by inferiority of quality ol that
particular shipment, but (as has already been indicated) by the limited character ot t e
market for oxide and the competition of the Hormuz output. .
In the light of these statements it appears to the Board that it would e
unreasonable to frame an estimate of the compensation to be paid to Messrs Wonckhaus
on any other basis than the average selling price in Germany of Abu Musa oxide
40s. a ton. To take as a basis the price of 65s. a ton (that claimed by Messrs. v\ onckhaus
as the selling price of the trial shipment ) or even 55s. a ton (the highest price at whic ,
in Mr. Strick’s view, any Abu Musa oxide could be sold in Germany, when moreover
only a very small quantity of oxide of this quality is to be found on the island at a )
would seem to be extravagant. In any event, if Messrs. Wdnckhaus have any claim
at all (on the strength of their contract) in respect of a higher price than 40s. a ton,
such claim would appear to lie against Hassan Samaiya who led them to believe a
large deposits of good quality oxide existed on the island, and not against His Majes ys
Government. 0x . , , , ^
4. As regard’s freight charges from Abu Musa to Hamburg, Mr. Strick s denm
assertion is that 17s. 6d. should be allowed for this item and not 15s. the amount
quoted by Messrs. Wonckhaus in respect of the trial shipment of the “ btolzenle s
which has already been referred to. The statement in which among others, this item
is given, formed one of the enclosures in the Foreign Office’s letter of the 14th Octobei
last. Mr. Strick is prepared to accept Messrs. Wbnckhaus’s figures for the other items
as a basis on which the average cost ol Abu Musa oxide c.i.f. Hamburg may e
5. The question whether, and how far the price of oxide generally would have
been depressed by the addition of an annual supply of 2,000 tons of the Abu Musa
produce to the world’s supply is of course somewhat intangible. Mr. Strick, however,
is confident that such an appreciable depression would have occurred, that he considers
it is extremely doubtful whether Messrs. Wonckhaus could possibly have carried ou
their contract at a profit had it been permitted to run. Had the_ firm shippe
anything like 2,000 tons a year and attempted to sell this quantity m compe i ion

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Content

Copies of correspondence and other papers relating to the mining of red oxide on the island of Abū Mūsá in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , before and after the First World War. The volume’s principal correspondents are: 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); Foreign Office officials (chiefly Eyre Alexander Barby Wichart Crowe); representatives of the British firm Frank C Strick & Company Limited (including Frank Clarke Strick); representatives of the German firm Robert Wönckhaus & Company.

Correspondence dated 1912 to 1913 refers to informal negotiations between Foreign and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. representatives, the German Ambassador to London, and Robert Wönckhaus & Company, over the payment of compensation to Robert Wönckhaus & Company for loss of income and the relinquishment of concession rights for the mining of red oxide at Abū Mūsá, in the wake of the withdrawal of the concession by the Ruler of Sharjah, Shaikh Seker [Shaikh Ṣaqr bin Khālid Āl Qāsimī One of the ruling families of the United Arab Emirates; also used to refer to a confederation of seafaring Arabs led by the Qāsimī tribe from Ras al Khaima. ] in 1907.

Correspondence dated 1914 concerns assessments, submitted by representatives of Frank C Strick & Company Limited, and analysed by the British Government’s Board of Trade, on the value and deterioration in quality of the red oxide left by Robert Wönckhaus & Co at Abū Mūsá.

Correspondence dated 1921 to 1923 relates to: Frank C Strick & Company’s concession negotiations with the Shaikh of Sharjah, over red oxide extraction at Abū Mūsá, mediated through 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; reports of concession negotiations undertaken by Persian commercial interests for red oxide mining on the island of Hormuz [Jazīreh-ye Hormoz, also referred to in the volume as Ormuz]; diplomatic exchanges between representatives of the British and Persian Government (some in French) over historic Persian claims to the islands in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , including Abū Mūsá and Tamb [Tunb].

Extent and format
1 volume (277 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

The subject 4949 (Abu Musa oxide) consists of six volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/318-323. The volumes are divided into six parts, with each part comprising one volume. Part 6 (IOR/L/PS/10/323) is missing.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 279; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 4949/1912 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf: Abu Musa oxide’ [‎129v] (267/566), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/318, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100035476039.0x000044> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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