"ملف ٨٢/٢٧ III (F 84) شركة النفط الأنجلو فارسية أ.ب.و.ك: نفط قطر" [و‎‎١‎٧‎٥] (٦٣٨/٣٥١)

.7.. 1883/34.
, 1512/279/91.
iCTTlIATB.
POEBIOH OFFICE, S.W.I.
16th March, 1934.
My dear Gilbert,
I have been looking into the question of the
Qatar boundaries which is dealt with in your memorandum
B 430, the latest revise of which I received a few days
ago. Since the Foreign Office concurred in the terms
of that memorandum there have, as you know, been various
developments , and we have also gone into the legal
aspects of the question with our legal advisers more
fully than was possible when the matter was first
considered. As a result of this reconsideration of the
matter, and also of the arguments advanced in Ryan's
telegrams Hos. 8 Saving of February 14th, and 30 of
March 5th (with which I may say we entirely agree), I
think our present views would be as follows.
2. Perhaps the most important point which has
emerged frcm our discussion with our Legal Advisers is
that, in view of the fact that the 1913 line is "adopted"
and unmistakeably defined, in Article 3 of the 1914
Convention, which was duly ratified, that line is from
the point of view of international law perfectly valid,
so that we should be on strong legal ground in
maintaining that it still marks the boundaries between
Saudi Arabia, as one of the Ottonan succession States,
and the territories in south-eastern Arabia with which
Majesty's Government are in special treaty relations.
You will see that we have developed this point in
Paragraph. 3 of our draft despatch to Angora enclosed in
: ndia Office"
our/