"ملف ٦/٤ II الحدود الكويتية-العراقية" [و‎‎١‎٩‎٥] (٤٤٠/٣٨٩)

5. When Sheikh Abdullah went on an Inspection Sargon
suggested that he should call at Safwan, when the Assistant
Commandant of Police could accompany him on his tour.
On the face of it these suggestions seem sound,
although the Political Agent should presumably telegraph not
to the Iraqi Police authorities but to the Consulate-General,
(c.f. 3 above). Indeed in their letter No. 8(22/2/4) of
the 3rd January, 1947, the Basra Consulate-General told us that
they had recently been requested by the Political Agency at
Kuwait to point out to the Mutasarrifiyah of Basra that the
proper channel for correspondence between the Agency and the
Mutasarrifiyah was the Consulate-General. On that occasion
the Mutasarrifiyah alleged to the Consulate-General that as
a result of correspondence between the Iraqi Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and this Embassy it had been agreed that
correspondence on ordinary routine matters or matters of an
urgent nature could be exchanged direct between the
Mutasarrifiyah and the Political Agency and vice-versa, but
that procedure should not be used for correspondence on
matters of importance which should be dealt with by the Iraqi
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy direct. On
looking into our records we find no trace of any corres
pondence which dealt with direct communication between the
( Political Agent and the Basra Mutasarrifiyah, but subject to
the qualification that the Political Agent should deal with
the Iraqi authorities through the Consulate-General, it seems
to us only sensible that routinf matters or matters of an
urgent nature (such as minor frontier incidents) should be
dealt with in the first instance by our authorities on the
, spot. Matters involving a question of principle would, of
course, be dealt with by the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign
| Affairs and this Embassy direct.
If you agree with the foregoing perhaps you would be
good enough to instruct the Political Agent accordingly,
while we for our part would so inform the Consulate-General
at Basra. We are copying this letter to both.
Yours ever,
CHANCERY