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Coll 54/2 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Working Party' [‎99v] (198/642)

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The record is made up of 1 file (320 folios). It was created in 11 Apr 1949-13 Apr 1950. 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. .

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2 * A nimal Husbandry
Animal husbandry, tho herding of camels, sheep, goats and
horses, and in Hasa province the raising of a particularly
fine type of white donkey, was until very few years ago the
staplo industry of the bulk of the bedouin population of the
interior, but this is rapidly changing with the advent of the
motor car as the normal means of desert transport. Camels,
sheep and hides are exported to Iraq, Syria and Egypt, but
the emphasis is now on the beast of burden and the butcher*s
needs, rather than on the costly riding camel of other days#
Horse breeding in Arabia is almost dead. These developments
have impoverished the tribes so far as their traditional source
of income is concerned, but in compensation some few have boon
partially settled on the land in recent years by I bn Saud and
a certain amount roaches the tribes from the oil developments
in Hasa, (in remittances from their relatives or more indirectly)
It is also of interest that in tho current financial year
approximately £ 1 , 000,000 is being paid to tho 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#
3* 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 chemical processes by tho Saudi
Arabian Mining Syndicate, a nominally British Comp,any having
mainly American capital, at Mahad Dahab, roughly half way
between Jedda and Medina. 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 tho Yemen border, and a cement
plant is to be constructed at Dammam on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. #
There 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#
4. Oil
It is on oil that the present prosperity of Saudi Arabia
is based#. .(Previously it depended on the pilgrimage revenues)#
The Arabian American Oil Company (originally the Californian
Standard Oil Company) obtained a concession covering the
eastern portion of Nejd in 1933# snd 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

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Content

The file contains papers relating to the Working Party of the Middle East (Official) Committee. It mainly consists of Working Party papers received by the Commonwealth Relations Office, and a register of these papers with notes at the back of the file.

The file includes agendas for meetings of the Working Party. It also includes papers circulated to members of the Working Party for consideration at meetings, relating to the following subjects: economic and social development in the Middle East in general; the Iraq Central Development Board; the question of an International Bank Loan for Iraq; a visit to Bahrain in January/February 1949 by Matthew Thomas Audsley; the Persian [Iranian] Seven-Year Plan; employment of British experts in the Middle East; a survey of the oil resources of the Middle East; and economic factors in Middle East development.

In addition, the file includes papers relating to economic and social development of the following places: Iraq; 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 ; Saudi Arabia; Cyrenaica, Tripolitania [Libya], Eritrea, and Somalia; the Colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorate; the Lebannon; Ethiopia; Sudan; and Yemen.

Extent and format
1 file (320 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in 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 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 320; 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
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Coll 54/2 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Working Party' [‎99v] (198/642), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/4758, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100043583873.0x0000c8> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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