'File 5/17 Administration in the Neutral Zone' [‎14r] (27/70)

wo nriienulal
Political \geno> #
>Iu uit«
Ko. ;/3'^(5/l7)
Dco«Rbe? > 10, 1949
Dear Sir ifeiperfc,
I enclose hereifith a translation of the letter ani
enclosure froii I bn Sau& to the Shei kh of ^uweit ref e ’ rei to
in my teie&ruru to you Mo. 330 of JeoaRber 6.
question of Jurio
5. Point 4 of the dr^ft agreement is either super
fluous or conflicts with »rtiol© S(i3) oi the iiierioar*
Independent Oil Ooi&pany^ concession which states:
* ?he oonpany shall employ subjects of the
Sheikh as fur as possible for all wor^
for which they are suited under the super
vision of the company’s skilled employees,
but If the lo,>al supply of labour should
in the Judgement of the company be in
adequate or unsuitable the company shall
have the right with the approval of the
Sheiicb which shall not be unreasonably
withheld to import labour, prex'crence
being given to labourers from the neigh
bouring Arab countries who will obey the
local lews. fhe corapuny shall also have
the right to import skilled and technical
employees **• { M.B. There are no local
laws except perhaps tribal in the Heutrel
hone )•
f roe the company to accept Saudis on a fifty-fifty basis
with .uwaitis. The employment of Saudis by th* American
Independent Oil Ooapany { although not excluded by the
terns of the agreement ) would almost inevitably lend to
difficulties with the Saudi authorities and so would be
best avoided. I suggest that the line to adopt is that the
interpretation of the Xiericcn Independent til Company’s
agreement should be left to the Kuwaitis as provided for
In .rticle 18 of the concession and that of Western Bicific
to the Kaudis and so the dr?!ft from Ibn 3aud should deal
exclusively witu uestlons of adminlstritlcn*
5. As I repo rted in my telegram to you Ao. 270 of
Kovember 2B the present oi'rcingeir.ent between the j»erican
Independent Oil Company and * cstern Pacific is t. at the
former company should do all the wor: on the first four
weuls which are expected to te completed within six months.
If they stride oil the two ooaponlss will, according to
. oPherson, then et together again and decide on future
practice but continuation of the present set-up would seem
2
You will
made of the vital
By the terms of this article the Sheiich cannot
to be
His Excellency,
Sir ilr.'ert . , ., ' .1.,
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. , i ersiuii 3.If,
Bahx'u in.