"ملخص لعلاقات الحكومة البريطانية مع قبائل وشيوخ عربستان. بقلم الملازم أ. ت. ويلسون، القائم بأعمال القنصل في عربستان" [و‎‎٥] (١٤٣/١٤)

PREFATORY NOTE BY LIEUTENANT WILSON.
r™? compilation makes no claim to completeness. The historical
portion has been prepared with the object of summarising as far as possible
the past history of Arabistan, so far as it bears even indirectly on our present
position. The political portion has been' written in order to record and elu
cidate in some detail the salient factors which go to make up the sum total
P 1 ^ ^ n & a g ements and responsibilities in ’Arabistan, and of the liabilities
which those engagements directly or indirectly entail on us. As the British
Government has undertaken to protect the Shaikh against encroachments on
his jurisdiction, recognized rights, and property in Persia, it has been neces-
incompfete mme questl0ns m some detail > though the survey is still quite
The following questions in particular require careful study :
(1) Revenue of Arabistan : taxation : methods of revenue collection :
revenue how remitted to Tehran : land tenure;
(2) Extent and value of Shaikh’s property in Turkey: nature of his
personal and family rights over land in ’Arabistan.
It is desirable that precis should be prepared in regard to the following
questions:— ° s
(1) Relations between Shaikh and Bakhtiari Khans, and betweeq
Shaikh and other Persian tribal heads.
(2) Karun navigation.
(3) Ahwaz-Ispahan road.
(4) Luristan road.
(5) Affairs of Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Limited.
(6) ’Arabistan Telegraphs.
(7) Jurisdiction over Shatt-al-’Arab and Turkish claims to establish
quarantine at Fao.
(8) Treatment and status of Bahrainis in ’Arabistan.
All these questions are peculiar to ’Arabistan, and unless the facts in
fgard thereto are summarised in a convenient form they are liable eventually
to be lost sight of, or at all events to be inaccessible without considerable
labour.
It has been thought unnecessary to reproduce in this compilation Docu-
ments pnnted in Aitchison’s “Treaties, etc.,” 4th Edition, 1909, or Hertslet’s
Persian Treaties, 1891,” but all others are produced in full.
B^shire;
The 6th March 1911.
A. T. WILSON, Lieut., I.A.,
Acting Consul for 'Arabistan.