"ملف 82/27 VIII F 91 نفط قطر" [و‎‎١‎٨‎١] (٤٦٨/٣٧٤)

Bahrain i
l£th January, 1937.
m.JaktiZ/21. cam
q.'E.B C0MCES3I0K .
To H.B.M*s Political Agent,
Bfctbxain.
Sir,
We hove the honour to bring to your notice that
we have received the Company f s policy in regard to the
present Qatar controversy on the salaries of the Huler f s
two representatives and other minor matters which have
threatened at times to become controversial.
We hpve also been informed that the India Office
are in full possession of the Company^ views which may
be summarized as under ;
(a) It seems that the Ruler of Qatar contemplates or
contemplated putting obstacles in the way of the Company♦s
carrying out of the rilling of two artesian water
wells and to a geological examination of his territory
until the Company agree to pay some Rs.3500 p.m. for
his two represent tives. He Iso contemplates (or
contemplated) making unreasonable demands in the matter
of guards, roads and other matters,
(b) The Company^ attitude is that although it may be
inconvenient to suspend or postpone operations it is
not prep red to per dt this consideration to influence
it in the direction of complying with demends which it
regards as unreasonable.
(c) If the Sheikh is unable or unwilling to provide the
reason ble facilities the Company requires, operations
will be shut down until such time as the Sheikh is
prep red to carry out his obligations*
(d) If the Sheikh refuses the offer of Es.lOOO p.m. for
his representatives the matter can as far as the
Company is concerned just remain in abeyance.
The Sheikh can ? sk for arbitration if he likes. The
Company is not concerned to do so.
(e) If on the other hand other difficulties raised materially
hamper the Company^ drilling operations then the
Company would stop all operations and withdraw personnel
& materials from Qatar.
g. In this connection we would point out th t to
date there has been no hampering of our drilling opera
tions but in the first interview with Haji filliumaon
and Mr.Packer at ^tur the Ruler tt first said he would
prefer no work to commence before the ?t sal ry" qumtion
was settled and later reserved the right to stop the
work should no satisfactory result be obtained ufter
reference to I/mdon.