'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎72r] (154/1904)

when it is remembered that the Memorandum starts from the assumption that Hassan
Samaih s proceedings were culpable. The argument of the British Memorandum, so far
as this question is concerned, is as follows :—
" . ^ K c ^ ear that an agreement of such scope as that concluded between Hassan
Samaih and Mr. Wonckhaus ought to have been previously laid before all the parties
interested. Lhat was not done, and at least two of the partners did not give their
consent to the agreement. But Hassan Samaih had no right to conclude the agreement
without the knowledge of the other partners, for he was not the manager. Therefore
Isa's complaint was well founded."
i he Imperial Government, however, maintain that the partners did, as a matter of
fact, sanction the agreement bet ween Hassan Samaih and Mr. Wnn o.kb ftBs , bnt that this
sanction was not really necessary, as Hassan Samaih is the manager of the company.
VV iEh regard to ihe question whether the partners approved the agreement, the
following persons are concerned besides Isa : Nedjef, son of the former partner Nakhoda
Ali A-lunea Salih, of Bunder Abbas, and Malcolm, of Bushire.
Nedjef asserts in his letter to Lieutenant Gabriel, British vice-consul at Bunder
Abbas, of the 16th February, 1908 (Annex 18 of the British Memorandum), that he
did not give his sanction to the agreement, and did not sign it. With regard to this
it must in the first place be pointed out that it is disputed that Nedjef was a
partner. The matter stands thus: his father, Nakhbda Ali. as is clearly shown in the
agreementeregarding his entry as a partner (Annex 2 of the first German Memorandum),
had a share on the strength of his engaging to superintend the work at the mines,
without putting capital into the concern. This partnership was accordingly connected
with personal services, and therefore ceased when those services came to an end, that is,
at Nakhoda All's death. That; at any rate, was formerly Abdallatif's view, as is clearly
shown by the latter part of his letter to Hassan Samaih of the 23rd June, 1905 (19
Bdbi II, 1 323) .* This view is shared by Hassan Samaih and Abdallah, and the former
energetically denied to the Imperial vice-consul at Bushire that he had ever recognised
Nedjef as a partner. That Nedjef's father was not really a partner, but only an
e mployeoi the company with a share in the profits, is especially clear from the fact that
he did not take part in the reception of Sheikh Sakar into the company, and that it was
not considered necessary for him to sign the document on the subject (Annex 4 a of the
first German Memorandum), although it was not a case of a simple transfer of a share
already existing, but of the creation of a new share, and therefore the diminution of
the rights of the remaining partners. Whatever decision may be arrived at on • the
question of Nedjef's partnership, a question which will have to be settled amongst the
partners themselves, it is certain that Nedjef on several occasions expressed to third
parties his approval of the proceedings of Hassan Samaih, and that therefore no credence
can be given to his assertions in the letter of the 16th February, 1908, referred to
above. In particular, at the end of November 1907, at Bunder Abbas, he said to
Abdallah, son of Hassan Samaih, in the presence of the dragoman of the Imperial vice-
consulate at Bushire, tliat he entirely approved of the agreement with Wonckhaus, and
of everything else that Hassan Samaih did, and that he regarded him and honoured him
as a second father.f Moreover, when the British subject Brown, of the firm of Robert
Wcnckhaus and Co. was temporarily at Bunder Abbas in March 1908, Nedjef offered
to sell him his (or rather his father's) share in the mining company; at the same time
he stated that be entirely approved of the agreement for the supply of oxide concluded
between Hassan Samaih and Mr. Wonckhaus. Mr. Brown decided not to buy the share
only because he knew that Hassan Samaih, Abdallah, and Abdallatif disputed Nedjefs
partnership. Mr. Brown has made a declaration, the truth of which he is ready to
confirm by an oath,t in regard to this incident. It would therefore appear that the
statements made by Nedjef in his letter of protest of the 16th February, 1908, denying
; his approval, which letter was communicated to Lieutenant Gabriel a month before the
I offer to Mr. Brown meut'oned a bow, are ti »4 in accofdoiice die ta Oiht-i
they would have lb be considered uf; retracted by the statement made by Nedjef to
Mr. Brown a month afterwards to the effect that he entirely approved of the agreement
with Mr. Wonckhaus for the supply of oxide.
* Annex 32.
f The Imperial Dragoman, Mirza Abdnl Hussein, was on that occasion on his way to Shargeh
accompimed'and had id wait' at Blinder Abbas for the steamer to Shargeh. He has declared
officially that daring the conversation between Abdallah and Nedjef he simply listened and made no attempt
to influence Nedjef. He says that Abdallah, too, used no persuasion with Nedjef, and that the latter
expressed his approval entirely of his own accord.
-- J Annex 33.