'File 5/1 III Kuwait Oil Company' [‎56r] (116/766)

CONFIDENTIAL
2?th 3 **nn*ry 1925.
K^Qkie of the A.P.O.C. MM ^own here >n the 9 th, to see
if he could liduce the Shaikh to oosn ne^oti^tlone for an oil
Concesaiou. The Shaikh w a 30 rt gushing to him socially, hut
.,h#n he came to bus 1 nee a he a&de his usual reply that he
v.mted to diecuae the aatter first with some of hie advisers
tfho were still absent - n excellent re-,son when he first
©ad# it to me in September, but rather poor now! Mackie has
accordingly &one on to Bahrain to try hi a luck there, and the
A.F.O.C* have now gent HaJJ 1 ’Abdullah vllll«a»on, who is now
in their employ, to try and find out what the real objection
to the erant of a concession to ihe A.F.o.C. in Kuwait is.
In c ae you do not know who this Hajji ’Abdullah is, he
Is an Englishman born in England, who I believe ran away to
sea as a boy* He led a roving life in America, as an officer
on \n American whaling boat, la the South Tea Islands, etc.,
and finally gravitated to Aden some twenty five ye^rs ago. By
that time he had ° & ot religion*, as tne Tommy calls it, and
belonged to some queer sect or other, from which he became a
Muslim - ouite genuine one I think - < nd has lived as an
mrab ever since. At the beginning of the * r he w .e a sort of
English secretary to the Nanlb of B^ sran, and is stopping ^
with Saiyid aid Bey now. He volunteered i.oon after we got,
to Basrah and as used for Intelligence, chiefly centre* ^
#apionage,work all through the war.
The result of his enquiries is very much what one would
h-ve expected: a number of people still look on the A.F.O.C.
as a Government concern pure and simple, id object to it for
th reason; others do not want an Oil concession to be given
to anyone, partly because it would provide work for a large
number of eople and thus make it harder to get pearl divers,
* nd partly because they think it would lead to our Interfer
ing In tut internal affaire of Kuwait, which they apparently
have a great dread of. He thinks th t ? ulla S~llh,the Shslkh’
chief secretary » as poe»5.bly others - h » certainly been
*qufred by Holmes’ people, and that a 'remise of present
from the A,P.0.1, to him on their etting a concession would
probably have a very big effect in smoothing over difficuitlf
(I ftincy this was really the chief point he was sent to find
outy.
Ch e Hon ’ ole Lieut • Col
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.
. B. Prideaux, C.^.I.,C.I.S.
In the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , BUSHIRE.
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