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Coll 30/232 'Arab Sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf.' [‎4v] (9/119)

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The record is made up of 1 file (57 folios). It was created in 24 May 1949-6 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. .

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20 miles off the Eastern coast of Arabia. The total
. population is about 100,900a The State formerly subsisted
almost entirely on its entrepot trade and on its pearling ^
industry, which today is moribund. Apart from oil (see
below), the State possesses no economic resources. About
one-twentieth of its area is cultivated under irrigation,
and recommendations for intensifying and improving the State’s
agriculture have recently been made by Sir Herbert Stewart,
Agricultural Adviser to the British Middle East Office*
6* In 1932 oil was discovered and is now being
exploited by Uio American-owned Bahrein Petroleum Company,
^ro^uction is at present static at about 1.5 million tons
per annum, and it is estimated that the reserves will be
exhausted in about 50 years. The Bahrein refinery handles
a throughput of about 7 million tons of crude oil per annum,
of v/hich 6 million tons is imported from Saudi Arabia,
7* For the past 14 years Bahrein has received oil
royalties amounting to about £250,000 per annum, which were
increased in 1948 to £ 365,000 per annum and which will probably
now be further increased as a result of the current oil
royalty negotiations. These royalties account for nearly
half of the State’s revenue, the balance being derived mainly
from customs duties. For over 20 years the State has been
administered by Mr. Carol Belgrave, the Sheikh’s British
adviser, and under his sound guidance it has become probably
the best administered non-British State in the Middle East,
Hauntedby the prospect of the exhaustion of the oil reserves,
the Sheikh and Mr. Belgrave have agreed in pursuing a
conservative financial policy. The oil royalty income
(apart from the Sheikh’s share ^iich is one-third of the total)
has been allocated partly to capital expenditure on revenue-
producing schemes and partly to a reserve fund v/hich now
amounts to about £1 million,. This fund is invested mainly
in Government of India securities on which a return of 2^
to is received. The Government of India have so far
refused permission to the Bahrein Government to sell these
securities,
$• Although under Mr. Belgrave’s administration much
development of public amenities - schools, hospitals, roads,
electricity, telephones, etc, - has already taken place, 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. considers that there is
considerable scope for further development to improve the
amenities and social conditions in the State, and that such
development could absorb the oil royalty revenues - for some
years to come,
(c ) Kuweit . This State is situated at the North
West corner of the Gulf, and consists of a waterless desert
which is roughly a square of 90 miles in each direction.
The total population is estimated at about 150,000, of which
70,000 live in the town of Kuweit, Apart from oil (see
below), the State’s economy is based upon its entrepot trade and
ship-building industry. It is the natural port of North-
East Arabia and trans-shipment port for the produce of the
smaller Gulf ports pnd of India,, Kuweit is famous throughout
the Gulf for the ship-building of native craft (dhows),
for which the timber is imported from the Malabar coast.
Owing

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Content

The file contains three political and economic reports on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. states, prepared by the British Government.

The reports are as follows: Foreign Office print entitled 'Arab Sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ', dated 8 June 1949, surveying each of the shaikhdoms and some of their problems, with indications of the action that might be necessary there, including a separate paper on education (folios 53-57); Cabinet Middle East (Official) Committee Working Party paper entitled ' Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. : Economic and Social Development', dated 12 November 1949 (cover sheet states title as ' Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. States'), covering all aspects of social and economic development in the region, including detailed sections on Bahrein [Bahrain], and Muscat and Oman (folios 8-51); and Cabinet Middle East (Official) Committee Working Party paper entitled 'The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. States', dated 2 December 1949, giving a brief overview of the region, with sections on the utilisation of oil royalties, and recommendations for the long-term development of those states with substantial oil revenues (folios 4-6).

Extent and format
1 file (57 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file. There is a set of file notes on folio 58.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 59; 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.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 30/232 'Arab Sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf.' [‎4v] (9/119), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3974, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100070104134.0x00000a> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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