![Coll 30/86(2) 'Persia. Relations with Iraq. Shatt-el-Arab: Internationalisation of, and establishment of a Conservancy Board.' [‎386v] (783/944)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000648.0x000172/IOR_L_PS_12_3803_0799.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Coll 30/86(2) 'Persia. Relations with Iraq. Shatt-el-Arab: Internationalisation of, and establishment of a Conservancy Board.' [‎386v] (783/944)")
Coll 30/86(2) 'Persia. Relations with Iraq. Shatt-el-Arab: Internationalisation of, and establishment of a Conservancy Board.' [386v] (783/944)
The record is made up of 1 volume (468 folios). It was created in 23 Dec 1935-22 Apr 1937. It was written in English and French. 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.
compromise between the two extreme views indicated above which will probably
be held by the Persian arid Iraqi Governments respectively, and it is to be hoped
that on this account it may prevail. But if His Majesty’s Government were
forced to make a choice between these two views, they would regard majority
voting as less dangerous than unanimous voting, which would give any one of the
three members the power to render the work of the board entirely nugatory.
They consequently regard it as important that the list of cases in which the draft
convention provides for unanimous voting should not be extended to any great
extent, though there is no objection to the consideration of individual suggestions
on their merits. Suggestions for a reduction of the list may also be considered,
although His Majesty’s Government would, for instance, be most reluctant to lose
the veto which the draft convention now gives them in the matter of the raising
and lowering of shipping dues.
6. His Majesty’s Government cannot indicate with greater precision the
sort of text which they would be willing to accept in default of any more satis
factory
An East India Company trading post.
text, and they must leave it to their representatives, bearing these
directions in mind, to do their best to secure a text resembling as much as possible
the draft of December 1935. In so far as it may prove impossible to secure the
acceptance of any particular article or passage of the convention in the form in
which His Majesty’s Government have proposed it, or in a form which is clearly
equally satisfactory, it will usually be better for any such article or passage to be
omitted altogether, even though it embodies an important safeguard, than for the
point with which it deals to be covered in ambiguous, misguided or unreasonably
restrictive language. If the point is not mentioned at all, the board will at least
be free to use its discretion, and at the worst the normal principles of equity can
be invoked as a defence against any flagrant abuse of that discretion. But if the
board is committed to unsound principles, the harm done may be irreparable.
7. The language or languages in which His Majesty’s Government would
be glad to see the convention signed are in the following order :—
(a) A sole English text.
(b) Persian, Arabic and English texts, with English as the master-text.
(c) English, Persian and Arabic, all texts being equally authentic; where
they differ, any two which agree prevailing over the third.
(d) A sole French text.
Foreign Office, January 14, 1936.
About this item
- Content
The file concerns negotiations over a convention to establish a Conservancy Board for the Shatt-el-Arab (also referred to as the Shatt-al-Arab) between the governments of Iraq, Iran (also referred to as Persia), and the United Kingdom.
The convention had two main objects: (1) to provide for the conservancy of the Shatt-al-Arab (i.e. its maintenance as a navigable waterway adequate to the needs of international shipping); (2) to control the navigation of the Shatt-al-Arab (i.e. to provide all shipping using the waterway with a uniform system of control, administration, and discipline in all matters necessary for safe and efficient shipping). The board was to consist of Iraq and Iran as the two riparian countries concerned, and the United Kingdom as the state owning over 90 per cent of the shipping using the river.
The papers cover: Perso-Iraqi negotiations; the question of British participation in the convention; the views of the Shah of Iran; negotiations over the frontier between Iraq and Iran; dredging dues; the navigation of the river; Persian violations of Iraqi territory; the anchorage at Abadan; draft agreements on the frontier between Iraq and Iran; the Persian refusal to allow Iraq any say over the waters (the Karun) that flowed into the Shatt-al-Arab (e.g. folios 262-264); the interests of the Government of Turkey in the issue; the view of the Foreign Office that a single authority was required in order to achieve unified control over the whole waterway system (folios 245-246); quarantine and police posts; and the Port of Basra (budget estimates, and dues and charges).
The main correspondents are the Foreign Office, the British Ambassador to Iraq, and HM Minister, Tehran.
The French language content of the file consists of approximately ten folios of diplomatic correspondence and treaty drafts.
The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (468 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 464; 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. The front and back covers, along with the two leading and two ending flyleaves have not been foliated. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 291-464 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 30/86(2) 'Persia. Relations with Iraq. Shatt-el-Arab: Internationalisation of, and establishment of a Conservancy Board.' [386v] (783/944), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3803, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048894118.0x0000b8> [accessed 24 April 2024]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/3803
- Title
- Coll 30/86(2) 'Persia. Relations with Iraq. Shatt-el-Arab: Internationalisation of, and establishment of a Conservancy Board.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:ii-v, 1r:9v, 16r:16v, 23r:68v, 69v:74r, 75r:76v, 77v:78v, 87r:181v, 187r:196v, 199r:199v, 201r:217v, 218v:292v, 299v:311v, 315r:323v, 333r:464v, iii-r:iv-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence