'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎12v] (35/1904)

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point to Hasan's letters of 30tli January 1905 and 5tli July 1906, whicli did not
form enclosures to the previous memorandum presented to the German Govern
ment.
(56) He (Malcolm) further expressly "
hiahef price we shall not get the former Agree Mr. Malcolm dio
not favour me with a copy of this letter, and the line of_ argument ot
persuasion used therein is unfortunate, but it will be noted that it was written
in rdjBy to Hasan's letter to him, dated 14th Octobet 1906 (Enclosure No. 14
of British Memorandum), and after Malcolm's communications to me on the
subiect of Hasan's intrigues with the German firm and his teiusai to supply a
copy of the Contract ('^e his letters to me referred to m Item 54 above).
Th a obiect of the missive was simply to allay Hasan's suspicions and induce him
to send a copy of the contract, and I suppose Mr. Malcolm worded it in tee terms
most likely in his opinion to have the desired result.
(57) When Malcolm later on received a
ghout it and accordingly acquiesced in it.-lt will be seen from his letter to me that
he did not acquiesce, but by the time he got the copy (not till December) I had
aho then got one, and he was awaiting informal advice from me asto what actio a he
should take. I could give him none, because he had not produced his cieedof part.
nership.
I think we mi^ht sav that Malcdlm did protest td 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. , both at the
conclusion of the contract without his being consulted and at the refusal of Hasan
to supply him with a copy—but that being unable at the, time to find ais deed ot
partnership thete was nothing on which he could base a fotmai complaint against
Hasan.
(58} A? thecofresvondence showsAhdul Neither Abuid
Latif nor any one else had any objection to the mete sale of the stufi to
Messrs. Wonckhaus. All Abdul Latif's expressions of approval were, made m
ignorance of the precise text and bearing of the contract ana in the belie, (a natural
one after his repeated admonitions) that nothing more than a sale of the mineral
had been agreed upon.
(59) If is not till about four months later * * *
to send him- a copy of the agreement.-Yot the simple reason that up to r ow Abdul
Uti"tad trusted to Hasans good faith, but tad now teee.ved news wmch aroused
to appretansio®. namely, that Hasau had granted a monopoly and bound himself
for a number of years.
mMe " * * P* * V*** MeZZZ
g ffiLX plwein questim as/otas : " 0/
Slbn its 'acceptance"-A* the German Memoranda a great deal of argument
better mani /- wb diag o{ this passage translated m the sense which they
iTeXhSbLtt ibnSl to it. In support of their ver sl on they quote the op.
contena sno u A merican Missionary of Busreh, and secondly of a German
SLSfS Berlta Boft opinions are theoretical and eonjeetura! and do not
profess to pay any regard to local usage.
In refutation of them I bring forward—
ihA statement from Abdul Latif that what he meant was " the annulment
{) of ^contract is better than its acceptance " (Annex 34);
/••X p roo f that Hasan Samaiyeh unde'rstood him in that sense, and requoted
his words back to him, but more grammatically and unmistakably
(Annex 34) ;
(iiiS The opinion of the well-kho^n Missionary, the Bevd. S. M. Zwemer,
who has laboured for some 15 years among tne Arabs of the Gulf and
probably knows their local peculiarities of speech and writing better
thiri any living man. He has no hesitation in saying that the meaning
intended and the natural inteWretatiolUo place upon the sentence is:
"the annulment of this coixte^t i^ bettor i^han ivs acceptance (An
nex 35).