'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎84v] (179/1904)

36
Annex 39.
[Compare Inclosure 10 in German Memorandum communicated January 1, 1908,
and Appendix 17 to British Memorandum of July 10, 1908.]
In the name of God the Most Merciful!
From Asharidja to Lingah. 12 Safar, 1325 (27th March, 1907).
To the honoured Alhadj Hassan-ibn-Ali Samaih, God the Highest keep him well!
After greeting, &c. (we inform you); We have received your honoured letter and
noted its contents. When we received your communication to the effect that you had
sold to the Germans 2,000 tons a-year of the red oxide of the Island of Abu Musa, the
price of which was 15s. for each ton, we sent 3 ? ou the reply, dated 21 Rebi II, 1324
(14th June, 1906), from which (our) satisfaction appears, but which contains a warning
against entering into an agreement which looks like a lease or into an undertaking
leading to gossip, because our rulers will not allow anything of the kind, and we asked
you to secure us against the annoyances of this life. The letter must have reached
you, and you must have understood its contents. After we had asked you several
times to send us a copy of the agreement, you did so on the 5 Dulkade, 1324 (21st
December, 1906) ; it was in English, and we acknowledged its receipt in our letter
dated the 6 Dulkade, 1324 (22nd December, 1906); and when we had found a
translator, and got the translation, we discovered that you had rushed into the very
thing against which we had warned you, and that you have bound yourself by Jease.
Therefore (my) son Isa does not agree to this contract, which takes away all power of
disposal and exploitation of the red oxide mines of Abu Musa. "We have so informed
you before this in a letter dated the 8 Dulhidj, 1324 (23rd January, 1907), at the time
when the contents of the agreement became clear to (my) above-mentioned son. A
perusal of the enclosed translation of the agreement Will show you that the thing is
not, as you previously wrote us, a matter of buying and selling, but a leasing business,
against which we have warned you.
SheikhSakar-ibn-Khalid does not agree
a foreign Power, and considers that ike agreement
themselves, as you did a few years ago, and. not
This is what it was necessary to explain. We have informed you in order that
you may know it and may act in such a way as to secure all from complications; and
greeting.
ABD ALL ATIF-IBN-ABD AEEAHMA N.
Annex 40.
In the name of God the Highest!
To the much honoured faithful friend Alhadj Hassan-ibn-Ali Samaih, God the
Highest keep him well.
After greeting, &c. : Beplying to your letter, in which were enclosed the papers of
the Memorandum of Association for the signature of the partners, and other papers for
the information of the partners, regarding the extraction of red oxide and mica (we
have to state that) : We have shown the letter to your partners, and their reply is (as
follows):—
1. You fixed the sum of 4,000 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. as the price of the four large boats before
you consulted them, and it is not clear to them whether the four boats have been
employed from the date of the lease of the red oxide mines.
2. The red oxide mines, the rent of which is 250 reals a-year, cannot bear the cost
of eight boats at high figures while the amount of oxide extracted is small.
3. It was not necessary to estimate so much for the workmen's accountant and for
food, &c., when such things surely do not disappear suddenly from the island. Also it
is possible, by (good) arrangement, for the workmen to work for twenty days before the
arrival of the ship, and it is possible for them to extract a great deal in that time ; other
shippings should not be thought of till afterwards. To extract the red oxide from the
ground and then leave it lying in the island is too expensive. It is now evident that
shipping to India leads to loss of time. The people ask for samples; if they can get
samples they give orders, but not otherwise. It is clear that the work was carried on