Coll 6/88 'Intelligence: Military Report on Arabia (C.B. 1892).' [‎32v] (69/133)

3S
(5) Commercial Establishments
The offices of the KUWAIT Oil Company {see also Section IV, page 8) are near the
American Mission. The company intends to erect more buildings and to make this area a
concentration point in emergency, with a reserve of water and food. The Oil Company s
water pumping station is at SHEWAIK, 2^ miles west of the town. The company has con
structed a quay there and water is landed from lighters and pumped through a pipe-line to
MAQWA. There is a small community—about 100 in 1939—of British and Americans, the
majority being employees of the KUWAIT Oil Company living in KUWAIT. There are no
other commercial, shipbuilding or engineering works except the small dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. building,
electric light and ice plants and soda water factory An East India Company trading post. , to which reference is made elsewhere
in this section.
Fuelling Facilities
Stocks held at the beginning of 1941 were
Petroleum
Lubricating oil
Aviation spirit
R.A.F. fuel
20.000 gallons.
1,000 litres.
12.000 gallons.
A fuel and oil store is maintained at the
R.A.F. landing ground.
(6) Aircraft Factories
Nil.
(7) Air Facilities {see also Section IV (3))
Imperial Airways have an agreement with the Shaikh for the use of the harbour near
SHUWAIKH as an emergency alighting area and anchorage. This is the most suitable
anchorage, as it is well sheltered from the winds.
The R.A.F. landing ground, 950 by 650 yards, is to the east of KUWAIT, just outside
the town walls. It has a circle and corner markings- and a fuel and oil store is maintained.
R.A.F. unmarked emergency landing grounds exist at AL JAHRA and SUBAIHIYAH,
just south-west of the oil wells area.
A landing ground could be constructed fairly easily a mile south of MAQWA Camp and
the country is such that many natural landing grounds exist all over the state, especially in
the west, north and south-west and includes the following :—
GRAN I
WAFRAH ..
RAS-UZ-ZOR
RAS BARDHALK ..
RAS SAFANIYAH
A good landing ground.
A good landing ground.
Possible landing ground 1 mile north.
Possible landing ground | mile north.
Possible landing ground 3 miles north-west, sheltered
seaplane anchorage.
(8) War Material Factories
None.
9) Power Plants
Two electric light engines, one 50 h.p. and one 25 h.p. (250 volts D.C.)._
There is one ice plant of small capacity which is scarcely sufficient to meet the present
demands of civilians, and a soda water factory An East India Company trading post. , run by private enterprise under official control.
(10) Transport Facilities
There is no railway.
The B.I.S.N. Co. “ Slow Mails ” between BOMBAY and BASRA call at KUWAIT
weekly on their passage up and down the Gulf.
There are 10 motor lorries and 70 touring cars available in the town for hire. The
KUWAIT-IRAQ Transport Company maintain a regular bi-weekly service in each direction
between KUWAIT and BASRA for mails and passengers.
There are no metalled roads.
Transport to the interior is normally by car and camel. Local roads, and those to the
hinterland, are of sand and gravel, and are generally merely tracks, connecting groups of wells,
it is easily possible to visit all the important points on the frontier by car, especially during
the rainy season (October to March), when the sand and gravel surface of the hinterland
improves. Camels in any quantity can be bought, but not hired. About 200 donkeys could
be hired from KUWAIT and JAHRA.