Coll 30/110(4) 'Trucial Coast Oil Concession: Muscat Oil Concession. Hinterland Exploration & Survey.' [‎290r] (581/675)

Plwnys said, nad th© Political people a*ree, tho -^ini CMttlb are in no way aubject
to Muscat. They are however friendly with Dubcri rod Has al Khaitaa, but not on very
tsood tema with Sharjah.
In general, therefore, the Politicel c uthoritios *66 no reason why w« should
not get ae far south ns Biruiml* The Albu ;Jhsiaia end Ns*la wouli have to be
sj>pio«ched throa t the oultnn of Muacet to let ua aa far south aa Dhenk and Yenqul.
'^ Xfiafir* at Ibri is still coy, end it is suggested that an approach northweetwarda
the haa ol x*.cdd - ^aairah direction night be possible. Thu; tne uneurveyed
are»i under the iaaa f s control, (he bein ; ; still «t variaace with tuacat) would be
compere lively oaoll. Local public opinion night thou be influenced sufficiently
by the aignt of wealth accruing to neighbours, to overcome the scruples against
allowing us through. This is © slight modification of what I %rote on page 3 of
asy *ote on outstanding Concessions on lith October lest ya«r, but it stills
emphasises the desirability of saUcing gradual advances to these r*»woter sheikhs.
Supplies 1 made enquiries ebout supplies while at Sharjah, end of* ay return X
broke iay journey at cfehrein, where I was ahowix tr. Lermitte-s note to
you. On the whole i mu^t agree with it, as he obviously hixd aore true on the
Coast than 1 had, but i would aa&& tho following ijodificatioas:-
^ater Ignoring for the soaent the sources alon^ the mountain front suen as .y.tt,
Dhaid and Biraijai, cnarj&h has probably the best quality water alon^; the
const. 1 am infonaed by tne liAk that the JSAAF personnel there coaplain bitterly
about tnc quality wad quantity of tho wster they receive, sml th^t their co iplsint
ams the ahief reason for the request for a consul tat ion with a i/ompfctty geologist.
The vsater, even now, after an exception* ily wet winter is far from palatable end
has a distinct aperient effect. All water both for British oversees Airways
test house, amt the service eaxaps come* from sun flow well* in the saa^ on vrhicn I
shell submit a separate report, ruu ts th* supply is already short I <lo not believe
that we c*a expect to draw heavily from it.
Frovisioua fo r Amaricn;, enu Lritisn Ltnff X find that except for sene siall end
very unreliable quantities of local
vegetables, all vegetables and fruit are at present b«in r> brought in by air by
8GAC »rid th© allied air forces. lie couict not hop^ to obtain ».nything from these
sources and snould nave to denend on the infrequent and very irregul&r steamers waiob
call at Dubai and Lhf*rj**h. It is noteworthy that so little reliance o*»n be placed
on the steamers that no perishable foods are imported 4o the Coast by sea at present.
Ac ooniaovu tlon It would be well to rent Seyid Abdul Heasak’s house in Sharjah as a
base for the p^rty. It ie admittedly in the bazaar, and grert
circAaspoction would bo necee&nry on tne pnrt of the personnel to avoid offence
to the local populace. It is, however, much larger than the house in l>ubai, rnd
is slso accesaible by car in all weatners from the hast end Jouth, whereas the Dubai
house is frequently cut off from the hast by floods round the head of Dubai Creek.
Sharjah also is more convenient to the residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent and the vwireieaa office in
the 30AC Rest House.
Transport X have learned a conaidereble amount ebout transport on this last trip,
and shall ^rite e separate note on it.
Labour Ail inxormf tion 1 have gleaned supports iH*. Lermitts’s nates. There is
an acuta shortage of artisans, drivors find servents both in Bahrain end
on the Cop at. HAF engineers inform me th*-1 this labour question is very seriously
delaying their construction programnes in both free-a. The result is that wages
have risen this has attracted iraqia to such an extent thet the shortage is now
also being felt in Iraq. The larger employers of labour there have now asked the
GoverRfm-ai to prohibit this emigration. it will therefore be difficult, it not
impossible to obtain enough drivers, cooks end boys for our party, either locclly
or from .-jahrain or Iraq* Although X na not quite cortain 1 believe we should find
that we should not be able to obtain men from undie either.
C0^UL'J310£» Taking all factors into coAsideretioa I should reco uaend that no
geophysio* ! party be seat to the Trucinl Const this eututan unless an
adequate supply of tinned and dry provisions both for tha i uropssu snd local staffs
have been obtained and landed on the Coeat, r.nd unless sufficient drivers end other
personnel have been recruited. Special orreugemonta would flso have to be made
for the supply of fresh food, from some source other thwn dehfein, where both the
civil and services populations nre short. (I «aw one plsne Iwd of fruit and
vegetables land while I was there.) Cn the other h«<nd e ?.r& t deal of valuable
preliminary work might be done by say t geologist and n surveyor spending the winter