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Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction' [39r] (82/940)
The record is made up of 1 file (468 folios). It was created in 20 Mar 1949-13 Dec 1949. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
/ 6.
- 6 -
a certain amount reaches the tribes from the oil developments
in Hasa (in remittances from their relatives or more indirectly).
It is also of interest that in the current financial year
^ approximately £ 1 , 000,000 is being paid to the tribes in the
subsidies which go some way to alleviating their age-old
lot of being on the verge of starvation. This represents an
increase of over 100 % on the figures originally budgeted for.
Minerals other than oil
The only mineral other than oil so far located in
commercially workable quantities in Saudi Arabia is gold and
the copper, silver and some other metals found in conjunction
with it. Gypsum is also quarried. The precious metals are
being extracted by modern chemiqal processes by the Saudi
Arabian Mining Syndicate f a nominally British. Company having
mainly American capital, at Mahad Danab, roughly half way
between Jedda and Medina 0 The undertaking is, however, not
very large and there is so far no guarantee that any alternative
site can be found to which activity could be transferred when
the existing mine is worked out (probably in 2 or 3 years
time). Surveys are, however, continuing in half a dozen
areas under the direction of Karl Peters, an American mining
consultant employed by the Government, who is confident that
minerals are to be found in economically worth-while quantities
in some at least of those areas. Apart from this, rock salt
is quarried at Jizan near the Yemen border, and a cement
plant is to be constructed at Damman on the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
.
Thee are rumours that a glass
factory
An East India Company trading post.
, for which sands found
on the East coast would make excellent raw material, is to be
built also.
h.
Oil
It is on oil that the present wealth of Saudi Arabia
is based. (Previously its revenues depended on the pilgrimage).
The Arabian American Oil Company (originally the Californian
Standard Oil Company) obtained.a concession covering the
eastern portion of Nejd in 1933 , and the concession was
subsequently progressively extended to cover the greater part of
the country. The renunciation of certain areas has begun
but this will not involve the Saudi Arabian Government in
any loss of revenue. Oil was discovered in commercial
quantities in 1938 , and since that date both production
and proved reserves have steadily increased. Current
production is at the rate of about 450,000 barrels per day,
and for a period of three days in late 1948 off-take was
experimentally stepped up to a maximum of nearly 600,000
barrels a day. If demand warranted it, and if sufficient
tankers or pipeline capacity and stabilisers were available
to transport the oil, this rate could, it is believed, be
maintained indefinitely. Three fields are at present in
operation and four others are under investigation and
development.
The Arabian American Oil Company has a wide programme
of development and capital expenditure; the construction
of a pipeline to Sidon ? a port in the Lebanon is also
proposed,
5# Water supp lx
If adequate supplies can be located, the Government is
planning for the provision of piped water to Mecca, Yenbo
and other towns.
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to the Middle East (Official) Committee. It consists of: papers circulated to members of the Committee, received by the External Department of the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO); a few items of CRO correspondence with the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office, and Commonwealth governments; and a register of papers received or sent by the CRO relating to the Committee, with internal CRO correspondence (at the back of the file).
The file includes agendas for meetings of the Committee, and minutes of the meetings on 28 April, 5 May, 5 July and 19 July 1949. Matters discussed and recorded in the minutes include: the reconstitution of the Committee; the re-settlement of Arab refugees from Palestine; the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East by the Working Party of the Committee; the future work of the Committee; the Conference of HM Representatives in the Middle East to be held in London from 26 to 29 July 1949; United States President Truman’s ‘Fourth Point’ (Truman’s message of 24 June 1949 to the United States House of Representatives, communicating a ‘Recommendation for the Enactment of Legislation to Authorise an Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for Underdeveloped Areas of the World’); and further studies of the Working Party.
The file also includes the following papers prepared by (or approved by) the Working Party of the Committee: draft, revised and interim versions of the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East; papers relating to the economic and social development of Iraq, Syria, Greater Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan , Egypt, the Lebannon, Saudi Arabia, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Eritrea and Somalia, and the Colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorate; and a paper on Middle East oil.
In addition, the file includes other papers relating to matters discussed at the meetings, and the following subjects: Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan ; irrigation development in Iraq; Persia’s [Iran’s] Seven Year Plan for development; informal conversations on social and economic affairs in the Middle East between representatives of the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the British Embassy in Washington, and the United States State Department; the work of the Development Division of British Middle East Office; a survey of the oil resources of the Middle East; and economic development in Cyprus in relation to the Middle East.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (468 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate reverse chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
Numbers in red pen on the top right hand corner of items in the file refer to entries in the register of papers received and sent by the Commonwealth Relations Office at the back of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 468; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction' [39r] (82/940), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/4756, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100043455634.0x000053> [accessed 12 May 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/4756
- Title
- Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:42r, 43r:116v, 120r:259v, 261r:294v, 296r:436v, 442r:468v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence