"ملف 19/243 ( I (C 69 الزبارة" [و‎‎١‎٧‎٨] (٤١٦/٣٦٠)

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6. Bahrrir, on the other hnnd, they sr id h-K? ry-
t )fnded tremendous number of rrorde but T - -:'e unprepared
or um illing or unable to produce one scrap of docu-
mentrry evidence in favour of their claims.
7. The question then arose concerning the ult^iate
arrival rt r comprortlse. I as^ec 1 Sal eh bin an? direc 4 *
if he considered both sides takirg up this f t .itude -
whether there was any hope of a decision ^eing reached
vithout the assistance of an arbitrator. He replied that
the Shaikh of Qatar was not prepared to go any further as
he had even now made far sweater concessions than he con
sidered he should have made merely in order to retain the
good friendship of the Huler of Bahrain.
8. The Qatar representatives were very strongly in
favour of the matter being settled by arbitration. They
stated that the Bahrain Government were not prepared to
agree to this. This fact,, they pointed out, in itself
militated against the Bahrain claim insofar as whilst
Qatar b, acknowledging their readiness to receive a judg
ment felt assured of the strength of their claim, the
very un- illingness of Bahrain was a powerful proof that
they have no substantiation to any of the statements which
they had made.
9. I then told the Qatar spresentatives that although
they nust realise that as always I can only report to my
senior officer the Political Agent and it is entirely up
to him and the Political Resident to ma :e decisions,
nevertheless, I would point out the fact that a deadlock
seems to have been arrived at and nov that definite claims,
^roefs and proposals were all ready to hand I thought that
unfortunate though it was^_ nev ertheless, the time for