"الملف 38/3 II شركة امتيازات النفط المحدودة: امتياز قطر" [و‎‎٥‎٧] (٣٣٦/١١٣)

CORFIDFHTIAL
Ho.67 (86/46)
Dated the 12th May, 1948
72/91 dated the 30th April 1948.
2. I am moat grateful for the action you have taken to
obtain an additional allocation of meat for the Kuwait Oil
Company.
3. i am afraid I now have to ask you for assistance in the
matter of the supply of meat for Petroleum Development (Qatar)
Limited. I have"recently paid a visit to their camp in the Qatar
peninsula and was informed by their Manager there that at present
their ration of meat is only 2 or. a day. I think the conditions
under which the people at Qatar work are worse than those prevail-
ing at any of the other Gulf Oil fields. The climate and land
scape are appallng} accommodation poor and amenities practically
nil. As you are probably aware the Company has recently receiv
ed orders that they are to go into production as soon as possible
and this means a great deal of hard work.
4 # Apart from this the most important part of their work
at present is drilling and for this they have to employ American
drillers as no British ones are available. These drillers
expect to receive a pound of meat per day and beef at that.
Mr. Langham the Manager who is himself an American, Informs me
that in their homes they only eat beef and will not accept mutton
or lamb in its place. If they are not provided with the amount
and kind of meat to which they are used, they will leave the
Company* s emnloyment and it will be difficult to get other
American drillers in their place as possible candidates will
undoubtedly learn of the reason for the present drillers*
departure and will refule to accept employment.
5 . The Company*s Head Office in London are, I believe,
taking up the matter through the Ministry of Fuel and Power, but
I should be very grateful for any assistance you can give.
As pointed out in my letter about the Kuwait Oil Company, it is
most undersirable that any differentiation should be made between
American and British employees in the matter of rations, and 1
would therefore urge that a full meat ration of a pound a day
should be provided for all. This is in any case I think
Justified on the grounds given in paragraph 3 above. The number
of persons concerned Including both British and American is only
about 200, so that the amount of meat and hard currency exchange
involved will not be very large.
Sd/-W.R. Hay
R.G. Dundas,
Middle East Secretariat
Foreign Office,
LONDON. S.W.l
•LB’