'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎127r] (264/1904)

7
to show that lie was not referring to bimself, but to the Shargah State or the
Jowasuri i ^ v- hen uses it {vide page 6 of English version of German
Rejoinder) ana speaks of 'our island " they say he meantmy island "t
I grant that there is no significance in the use, either way, and that both
Snaikhs probauiy meant our " (Jowasim) island, vested in the ruling Shaikh.
ixQP Tke coMeMim i» evidently that Salim Jmd no right whatever to
AbuMusa and if he aid live there it was on hmdrms :
this is the contention. No right except what he derived from the ruling Shaikh
ana enjoyed subject to his pleasure and Salitn's own loyalty.
(20) Those letters then having nothing to do with the question of 'private owner*
snvp. 1 am incunea to agree. According to my view there is, and can be, no
private ownership of the island. Salim might conceivably own property on it,
but if he did, he could have title deeds for that property. The facts are that
wnen ralmg Shailch he built a house and planted some' date-trees. When he
ceased to be ruling Shaikh he ceased to own these except by his successor's
javour. If Shaikh Sagar evicted him from Abu Musa he might choose to recom*
pens© Salim for his expenditure and trouble while tenantiog the island, or ho
might not (see Annex I and item 28).
The letter, oo y which Shaikh
on 11th October 1902 (Annex 7
close examination to have a very different
British Memorandum, In order to understa
to Mow thejmporl of KembaU 's enquiry * * *
'printed in the Metnomndum.-—Colonel KembaB's letter (No. 75 of 10th March
1902) ran. as follows :—
" A report has reached me that you wish to grant a concession to Haj°
Hakhoda All Ahmed S'aleh for excavating and exporting red oxide from the
island of Sir Bu Nuair. I have therefore the honour to inform vou that it would
be advisable for you wlet me see the draft of the concession before coneMns?
tJie srrangemeirt, 0
..." 1 shall' also be gald if you will let me see a copy of the concessioa granted to
HajiNakhoda Ah for working the red oxide mines on the island' of Abu Muga."
1 would remark in the first instance,, for the information' of Government^
that BajiNakhoda Ali being a Persian subject, and a rascal,, the allegedlease
©I oxide mines to nim would appear to fee a matter deserving more Attention
than was given to it at the time it was reported (1898); but it was reported
very casually at tne time Dy 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 in any case Colonel
Kembaii was not Resident then and it was no responsibility of his, and he
naturally spoke of the matter as a fait when addressing the above
letter to Shaikh Sagar.
The pointed suggestion in the German reply that we had reason for not pro-
dtrcing the letter, inclines me to suppose that'they have seen it. This is quite
possible. At the time the letter was written there was no German element con-
neoted with the concession, and Shaikhs Sagar and Salim, Abdul Latif, and
Hasan Samaxyeh, were ali in each other's confidence, and the Resident's enquiry
and Shaikh Sagar's reply would have been of interest to and probably discussed
by all of them.
I am not sure of the reason which prompted Government not to produce this
document, but I should presume it to be this : Nakhoda Ali Was a Persian buI >
ject^ but no objection was then raised by 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. on that ground to his
participation. The Germans might argue that if Shaikh Sagar had in 1898
granted a concession to » foreign subject, and we had not objected for four treat®
why should Shaikh Sagar object, as he now has, or we, to the entry of
Wonekhaus into the concern.
As a matter of fact Cblonel Kemball was mistaken. Nakhoda Ali was not a
sharer in the original concession ; his name was dropped for a specific reason.
As a fraudulent bankrupt he was a disreputable person and incidentally, over
whom neither the Shaikh nor Government had any ultimate control, i do not
o
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