Coll 20/40 'Muscat: Sultan's request for appointment of a British Officer as Adviser to undertake improvements at Gwadur' [‎15r] (30/379)

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KXr.75E/4B
FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.l.
13th March,
... ... , — • » w •* '-' V-
(E 2903/327/91)
CCNFUENTIAL
Dear Hay,
We have been reading with sane interest and concern
some of the correspondence between you and the Canmonwealth
Relations Office about British advisers in the Gulf. In
view of our iaminent assumption of responsibility I should
pbrhaps let you know at once that we at the Foreign Office
agree warmly with the views expressed in paragraph if of
Gibson’s letter of the 3rd March, that His Majesty’s
Government with their special position in the Persian
Gulf cannot remain indifferent to the standard of
administration in the Sheikhdoms, for the shortcomings
of whose governments His Majesty* s Government, whatever
the legal position may be, will be held responsible.
It is therefore somewhat disquieting to find that
the Sheikhs of Koweit and Bahrein, which are relatively
the two more important of the Sheikhdoms, do not seem
to have realised that the increasing strategic and
economic importance of their States demands an
improvement in their present standard of adninistration,
and the delegation to competent Advisers of sufficient
executive authority to carry out a programme of
administrative and social reform and economic development
if they are to avoid political agitation and economic
unrest in the future.
Before taking the matter any further we should,
however, like to have a comprehensive appreciation from
you on the question of British advisers at Koweit and
Bahrein and also at Muscat. We should like to know
Sir Rupert Hay, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., /what
Bahrein