Concessions in Bahrein [Bahrain], Kuwait, &c: correspondence, 1932-Jul 1933 (Colonial Office Secret Print, Middle East No.49) [‎71v] (144/284)

116
Enclosure in No. 138.
Government of India,
Foreign and Political Department,
Simla, 15th April, 1932.
To the Secretary of State for India, London.
Continuation of our telegram No. 623, dated the 26th February, 1932. Kuweit
Oil concession.
As promised in concluding portion of paragraph 6 of the telegram extracts from
note by Dr. Fermor, Director of Geological purvey of India, containing detailed
examination of the draft agreement presented by Major Holmes to the Shaikh of Kuweit
in May, 1931, are enclosed for the information of the Secretary of State for India.
The Government of India are in general agreement with Dr. Fermor's views and
offer the following further criticisms of the proposed draft lease :—
(a) Clause 3. The guard for the protection of the Company's works, com
munications, &c., should be paid for by the Company through the Shaikh,
who would thus have direct control of the numbers, armament, and scope
of the force employed.
(b) Clauses 4 and 7. The coaling and oil stations (Clause 4) and the docks and
wharves (Clause 7) established and maintained along the coast of Kuweit
must, in time of war, pass under the control of the Shaikh.
(c) Clause 9 is too wide and vague and might have the effect of creating an
imperium in imperio. In our opinion the clause should be deleted or at
any rate it should be made clear that the representatives of the Company
in the Kuweit territory will be subject to the administrative and legal
authority of the Shaikh to the same extent as other foreign residents in
the territory.
{(I) We find that no provision is made for keeping accounts and would suggest
that Shaikh should be advised to ask for the insertion of a clause stipu-
lating tae keeping of correct and intelligible books of accounts upon such
plan or principle and in such form as may be approved of by the Shaikh.
(e) We also suggest a similar stipulation for keeping correct" and intelligible
maps and plans in such manner as may be prescribed by the Shaikh.
(f) The Shaikh might also be advised to ask for the insertion of a clause stipu
lating that at the expiration or sooner determination of the term of the
concession, the Concessionnaire should deliver the " conceded territory "
to him in good oi der and in a condition fit in all respects for its further
exploitation.
Issue of the above has been authorized.
H. A. F. Metcalfe,
Deputy Secretary to the Government
of India.
(Copy to 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. , Bushire.)
Extracts from note hy Dr. Fermor, Director of Geological Survey of India,
dated 20th March, 1932.
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15. The proposed concession agreement appears to me to be open to so many
serious objections that, apart from the question whether ultimately this Svndicate will
obtain a concession at all, I strongly recommend that this form of agreement should
be scrapped entirely. It may be too late to advocate the introduction in Kuweit, and
elsewhere m the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , of agreements following closely the lines of the draft
prospecting licences and mining leases given in the Indian Mining Rules. But we must
realize that m agreeing to a concession in any particular terms now, we are in effect
agreeing to the type of Mmmg Rules that should apply to Kuweit territory; and the
absence ot any such rules appears to necessitate that an agreement for the grant of
mineral concessions in Kuweit territory should be self-contained with its own embodied
mmmg rules, as m the case of Muscat and Bahrein. As I have said above, I strongly
recommend scrapping the present draft agreement and the drafting of a new one
o lowing the general form of the Muscat and Bahrein agreements with such additions
as seem necessary to make them conform more closely to the necessities of the case as
judged by our experience m India.
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