'Najd-Transjordan Boundary' [‎22r] (48/358)

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7. With regard to the second main question with
which you will he concerned, that of the prevention of
trans-frontier raiding between I#aq ani&ejd tribes, I am to
invite your attention to the rewords of the later meetings
of the Kuwait Conference, and to the accompanying copy of
a Confidential despatch dated the 12th of March 1925 from
the High Commissioner for Iraq. From these you will
observe that a substantial measure of agreement was reached
at Kuwait as to the steps necessary to check such raiding,
but that the Conference failed to reach agreement on the
important question of the mutual restoration of loot and
the payment of compensation in respect of damages arising
out of past xxat raids. As regards the arrangements
necessary to prevent future raids, the position has been
very comfortably eased 1 by the action of the Iraq Government
in moving the principal offenders - the refugee Shammar -
to districts remote from the Iraq-Nejd frontier, where they
will not be subject to the same temptation to raid across
the border, and where their activities can be more easily
and effectively controlled. Consequently, there appear
to be good grounds for hoping that on this question it will
be found possible to reach an agreement with Ibn Saud.
Such agreement should, in His Majesty*s Government's opin-
-ion, xji&aot in general follow the lines of the scheme under
consideration by the Kuwait Conference, unless, of course,
some alternative and more satisfactory method suggests it-
-self in the course of your discussions. Any agreement
that may be reached on this point might with advantage be
extended mutat is mutandi s to apply to Trans-Jordan. His
Majesty’s Government anticipate that the settlement of
outstanding claims for compensation and the restoration of
loot will present greater difficulties, but you should use
your best endeavours to obtain a settlement substantially
in accord with the suggestions advanced in Sir H. Dobbs’
despatch