File 4535/1928 Pt 8 ‘ – PERSIAN GULF – QUESTION OF ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTECTORATES OVER KOWEIT, BAHREIN, MUSCAT, TRUCIAL COAST.’ [‎75v] (144/194)

8
|| Tel. from Viceroy to
S. of S., 833. S., June 20
1923,P. 2357/23: Teh. tel.
to F.O.. 135, July 14 1923,
P. 3524a/ 23.
** Teh. Desp. to F.O. 574,
Oct. 31 1925, V. 73/26.
V?c C e-CoQs U l h at G Niif 0 k ea H Bahre i“ iS 08 I | ersian s,,b i ects . and the Persian-.
1 '!? lnterna * situation in Persia made it necessary to postnoi^
f 1.0. to F.O. July n 1923, to (trop^the^Droixis^d^ 1 ** 0 ' ^^ 1 -T H |' S ’ s G overmnent, and temporarily
p. 2472 / 23 . ' :l n T he P ro P° sal ; in which the 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. had concurred,IT to take
e.aliatory action m the matter of passports should the Persian Government
in the Gulf." ^ lnstructlons tlle - v llad lsslled on that question to their officials-
29. No further steps were taken until September 1929, when the Persian
anddret TiUt^T 11 thM 11,6 J ??r' " a5 II0 "' * British Protectoratt
an I that Ills Majesty s Government did not contemplate any alteration of
1. status a declaration met by a statement bv the Persian Minister for
hoieisu Affairs that the Government of which he was a member had no-
intention of laying claim to Bahrein on behalf of Persia This did
not prevent the Minister for Foreign Affairs from again raising the question
in the following month in a conversation ,n the course °of which Sir
Percy Loraine tentatively suggested, in his personal capacity, the possibility
P ", " ll T "■ 1 ? atte / : arbitration, a suggestion for making which h*e
was sharply rebuked by the Foreign Office, and from which nothing resulted
30. Between 1923 and 1927 there was a lull, and no point of real;
portance arose - Hls Majesty’s Government were reluctant to face the
nes ion ot the status ot Bahrein, and in consequence adopted in general an
accommodating attitude so far as possible on minor questions. Thus on
Ir-T- Tr Xef 9 "estion of the use by Bahrainis of Persian passports and
jili ,- lnS ? ass ® s (Bm-o-hhabar), agreement was reached in 1925®« that
o Iiem subjects should not be subjected to the new Persian passport
regulations, the production of an Ilm-o-Khabar sufficing and His Jhiestv’s
Government despite the apparent concession of prinffiplelnv/iTved huhe
-p’u'tlv 0 on 0 d, t le B^-Bjiabar, deoidft(1 in 1927 tacitly to acquiesce in this-
■ palt 7 0,1 Ul ® f?round that the recognition of these documents could be
ignored, since they were also being issued by Persia in the case of Koweit
the status of which was not in disputeto let the question of independent
Bahrein, passports he; and to allow the matter generally to res? unless
lV s \T"7p by l e T'J a f tl0 "-t Th «re "'ere no developments until J une
9.\ when the refusal ol the Persian Consul at Basra to visa the pass of a
Bahreini an incident now under examination-again raised the question.ft
ol. In September 1928, the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , on learning that a Persian
lesulmg at Bahrein was endorsing Persian Ilm-o-Khabar for Persians for
81?I it™ ;|0l^ ' ne •; , t0 , Persla " instructed the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. to tell the
In lan I t0 Tt Ue - 01 f deiS t ? at one bearing such documents would be allowed
and, and to inform the offender who was issuing endorsements that he
was usurping the powers of a Government official, which could be performed
th?Gl’ 1 6 TT Hf , the Sheikll > aad "iat he would be requested foZve
the island unless he desisted. The vigorous reassertion of the Persian
wa!? f° Bahrein deal t with below renders it desirable to keep a vigilant
foi any action which might be construed or represented by Persia
• nu adralssl °n their claim to suzerainty over Bahrein, and while, it
land?? Sir none?H°' iS ca V- vll, S. llui :°- Kha, ? a r are to be identified on
A . I'tonel flauoiths action is not inopportune at a time when
theie are indications ot an inclination on the part of Persia to assert a
s uulowy claim to suzerainty over the Slates of the Arab littoral by requiring
that their nationals shall take out Persian passports or travelling pa?es g
Genera/of^he Pe 6 ?? 11 ? 011 ? at ‘J" 8 ? oint , that ‘^Belgian Administrator-
tienerat oi the 1 eisian Customs stated early m 1928 that ’‘about four ve-ns
ago he had been taken to task by the Government of the day for imposing
repheTthat “ cust’n 800 H im P OT , ted from ^rein to Persia ; and that he had
I Teh. iiesp. 53, Jan. 27 they could be aSn '? 8 ^ '-fore
,923, r. 379,23. institute a customs control at Bahr i, i se f ’’J Go ' eimnent "' 01 ' Id have to
* G. oi’ I. to 1.0 , Sept. 5
1927, P. 4573/27
t F.O. to I.O., Nov. 2 1927,
P. 5120/27.
ft C.O. to I.O., July 24
1928. T.O. to F.O., Aug. 17
1928, P. 3913 : 4055/28.
Tel. from Pol. Res. to
S. of S. for I., Sept. 18
1928, P. 5100.
Pol. Res. to S. of S. for I.,
Sept. 17, P. 5093 28.