'File No. II/9 Foreign Dept Memoranda of Information re. affairs in Persian Gulf, Maskat & Arabian Shore of the Persian Gulf. Nov '07 - Dec '08.' [‎20v] (42/132)

11. {Vide para. 193 of the Memo.
AEUMU8A for October 1907.) On
Eviction of the con- the 14th November, the
cessionaire of the red Secretary of State for
India telegraphed that
tlie Foreign Office considered it not improb
able that the matter of the eviction of the
concessionaire of the red oxide mines on the
island of Abu Musa would be taken up by
the German Government, hut that they did
not foresee any difficulty in replying satisfac
torily to any representations that might be
made.
On the 17th November, the Political
Kesident was instructed to advise the Sheikh
to keep a guard on the island until he was
advised that he could safely remove it, and the
Secretary of State was informed that in a
letter from Mr. Wonckhaus to the Sheikh of
Shargah the former asserted a formal claim
that the mines and concession were security
for advances made by him. This claim, if
conceded, would have given Messrs. VYonckhaus
territorial rights in Abu Musa in direct con
tradiction to clause 3 of the Protectorate
Treaty signed by the Chief of Shargah in 1892.
His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires subse
quently telegraphed to the Foreign Office stating
that the German Consul, Bushire, had sent his
Dragoman with a letter to the Sheikh of Shargah
refusing to recognise the cancellation of the
red oxide concession on Abu Musa and
threatening a claim to heavy indemnity on
behalf of Wonckhaus.
On 6th November, His Majesty’s Charge
d’Affaires was informed by the German Minister
of Wonckhaus’ complaint against the action
of the Sheikh, and Mr. Marling gave him a
memorandum explaining the facts of the case,
and pointing out that the contract of
Wonckhaus was invalid.
This move was considered by Mr. Marling
to be an ill-chosen attempt to dispute the
British position in the Gulf.
On the 31st December, Mr. Marling stated
that it was asserted by the German Charge
d’Affaires, that iv. r. Brown, a German subject,
had been fired on. The third partner, Esa-
bin-Abdul Latif, he also declared, had written
a private letter to Hassan Samaiyeh agreeing
to the Wonckhaus contract. To this Major
Cox replied that, in the beginning, at Mr.
Brown’s express bidding, the Lingali con
cessionaire had carefully kept the text of the
German contract secret, and in writing to his
friends had suppressed the fact that the
monopoly had been conferred therein.
As the purport of the document was
thus misrepresented to him, it was quite
possible that the third concessionaire might
Lave agreed to the mere sale of some oxide to