'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎66r] (142/1904)

Enclosure 4 in No. 1,
Further Minute by Mr. Hurst.
I HE only material point on which Major Cox disapproves my suggestions for a
compromise is the renewal 01 the term in the contract under which Wonckhaus was
to be entitled to the entire output of the mines, other than the small parcels Hassan
was to be allowed to send to India. I regard the question whether Hassan's son should
be included among the new concessionnaires as a detail. If Major Cox, of his local
knowledge, thinks it better to omit him, it would certainly be better to do so : my
only idea was to restore the status quo as nearly as it was safe to do.
The monopoly point is rather more difficult. There are two documents with which
we have to deal: the concession from the sheikh to Hassam and Co., a.nd the contract
from Hassan to Wonckhaus. The former is a document which the sheikh has cancelled
and can renew in any terms he pleases ; the latter is a document to which the sheikh is
not a party, and the terms of which he has in consequence no means of altering. To
get the terms of the contract altered will require the consent of all parties, of the
concessionnaires and of Wonckhaus and Co. ; to obtain it will require much more
negotiating^ and probably also the making of greater concessions to the Germans.
Furthermore, the contract between Hassan and Wonckhaus is the portion of the
transaction which is mainly commercial, and not political, and with which, therefore,
unless there are very strong reasons for the opposite course^ I should be disposed not
to meddle.
It is, of course, quite likely that I am underestimating the importance of the
monopoly point, but in my view it is rather misleading to describe the arrangement as
a monopoly at all. Even if Messrs. Wonckaus do obtain under the contract the whole
of the output of the Abu Musa mines, this will not give them a monopoly of the oxide
trade in the Gulf; there are the Ormuz mines in English hands, and these are the
only mines at present which have got an established trade. I quite see that the fact
that Messrs. Wonckhaus are entitled to the entire output of the mines gives them a
position which would enable them to put such pressure on Hassan that they would
get him completely into their control, and be able to dominate the mining operations,
unless the interests of the sheikh were safeguarded ; but adequate safeguards can, I
think, be inserted in the concession which will prevent Messrs, Wonckhaus obtaining
any such control.
My view, therefore, at present is that to attempt to vary the term in the contract
under which Wonckhaus is entitled to the whole output of the mine would be a.
mistake.
C. J. B. H.
Foreign Office. February 15, 1910.