'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎172r] (354/1904)

ox.
23
years after the conclusion of the lease agreement,"
but on the 27th December, 1898 (see Appendix 16).
It is hardly necessary to remark that no such
document could be binding on the partnership
unless signed by all the partners, and that there
fore the document is valueless. The mere fact
that clause 6 of the memorandum, to which Abdul
Latif objected, and which Hassan Samieh,
p. 21. according to the Second German Memorandum,
was willing to cancel, was never struck out, but
appears in the document as now produced, shows
conclusively that the memorandum was never
completed or executed, and consequently never
came into operation. This is also shown by the
fact that no accounts have ever been rendered to
the partners who were not at the mines (see
Appendix 17), whereas under clause 9 of the
alleged memorandum this had to be done every
four months.
A further statement by Abdul Latif is annexed
(Appendix 15) which shows clearly what occurred.
After Abdul Latif's letter of the 21st January,
1899, objecting to several of the suggested pro
visions, the matter dropped. The document was
never completed or signed by the remaining
partners, and was never even shown to Sheikh
Sagar. It has never been seen by Nejef (Appen
dix 22). Mr. Malcolm states (see Appendix 17)
that, to the best of his belief, he never saw or
heard of the so-called memorandum, and certainly
never signed it.
In any event, even if the document were
taken as being in force, there is nothing in its
terms which would justify Hassan in entering
into contracts, other than ordinary sales, with
out consulting his partners. The contract with
Wonckhaus cannot be regarded as an ordinary
sale, because (apart from the small shipments
to India) it prevented the sale of oxide to
any other person, and because, in effect, it
would necessarily have limited the output to the
amount taken by Wonckhaus and the purchasers
in India.
This document, then, having never come into
force, the only agreement governing the affairs of
the partnership was that dated May 1898 (First
German Memorandum, Annex 2), under which
Hassan Samieh had no such powers as suggested.
The manner in which the affairs of the partner
ship were conducted is shown in Mr. Malcolm's
.statement (Appendix 17). It is, of course, not