'File II. IRAQ (3) Vol. 2 Shaikh of Kuwait's Date Gardens on the Shatt-al Arab' [‎222r] (445/682)

A\ali still refused to allow the registration of the transfer of the land he had pur
chased at Fadaghia unless he took out a certificate of Ottoman nationality. Abdul
W ahab Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , however, gave me a somewhat different account of the matter.
According to him, strict orders have been received from Constantinople not to per
mit the registration of the transfer to Mubarak'at all. The reason for this oppo
sition to what is really a very ordinary transaction is, so Abdul Wahab informs
me, that a misconception exists at Constantinople regarding the situation of the
land to be transferred, and that the Ministers believe it to occupy an important
strategic position commanding Basrah, moreover, they do not think Mubarak is
buying the land himself, but that the British Government are financing him
in the matter. Abdul W ahab says the Wali had sent in very favourable reports,
explaining how erroneous all this is, but he has not succeeded in overcoming
the opposition of the Ministers. As regards the question of the nufus teskere,
Abdul Wahab told me this matter could easily be got over by the Shaikh putting
the land in the name of his blind son and taking out a certificate of Ottoman
nationality for him in order to satisfy Turkish susceptibilities. I informed your
Excellency in a previous despatch that Shaikh Mubarak proposed adopting this
course when Major Knox and I discussed the matter with him last year at Kuwait.
I do not myself think the Wali is as obligingly disposed to settle the question
in the wuy the Shaikh suggests, as Abdul Wahab Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. would have me believe.!
As the deputy Ahmed Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. asZobeir, the seller of the land, is at Constantinople,
he could, no doubt, satisfy the Ministers as to the position of Fadaghia. I think
they do not want to let Shaikh Mubarak acquire more ground here for purely
political reasons, and the Wali, I think, is not likely to endeavour to induce them to
change their minds as he fully appreciates the anomaly of the Shaikh’s position
and loses no opportunity of having a dig at me about the Kuwait question. Your
Excellency may have seen a statement in the Frankfurter Zeitung that Ahmed
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Zobeir had sold large tracts of land at Basrah to the British Government.
An indignant denial of this was published by Zobeir’s brother, Abd-el-Mohsin,
President of the Municipality, in the Basrah newspaper “Izhar-ul-Hakk,” but
the statement, no doubt, refers to the present transaction and cannot but tend to
increase Turkish suspicions.
The Wali, how r ever, practises the Turkish maxim about being affable to one’s
friends and dissimulating with one’s enemies, and I hear Shaikh Mubarak has
promised to assist him to get the stone required for his new road by using Kuwait
boats to bring the material from Maskat, no charge being made for freight, but
the W T ali paying the cost of the labour employed. WTiether the Kuwait fisher
men will approve of this onerous arrangement is another question. In any case
the W 7 ali is cultivating good relations with his neighbours to some purpose and,
as long as he continues on good terms with the powerful Shaikh of Muhammerah,
it is unlikely there will be any armed disturbance in the Vilayet. There have
been none of importance this winter. Early last month Falih es Seyhood,
wffo is practically an outlaw, and who seems to have enlisted the good offices
of Shaikh Khazal in order to effect a reconciliation with the Vali, came from
Muhammerah where he has been staying to Basrah, and asked for pardon, saying
he was ready to pay arrears of taxes due and to give up the rifles of his Arabs
to the Turkish Government, to which he expressed his loyalty. The V ali com
municated his application to the Minister of the Interior, but I have not heard
with wffiat result. Falih returned to Muhammerah, the Wali having given him
to understand that he would be arrested if he remained here longer than
tw r enty-four hours.
Shaikh Khazal has on his side reciprocated by maintaining a conciliatory
attitude tbwards the Wali since his arrival and has not opposed the partial des
truction of his house property on the Ashar creek road, which is included in the
municipal scheme now being carried out by the W ali of widening the road and
laying down a tramway to Basrah. Shaikh Khazal’s agent, Mirza Hamza, called on
me and made some enquiries as to my own attitude in regard to the properties
of the Bohra and Khoja communities on the road which were being partly pulled
down. I told Mirza Hamza that I had been in correspondence with Constantinople
on the subject, and His Majesty’s Embassy saw no reason to interfere with the
execution of the Wali’s project, and that I had received instructions as to the