'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎176v] (363/1904)

82
After the cancellation of the concession, the
adjustment of the rights of the partners, as
between themselves, by the appropriate tribunal
(whatever that may prove to be) would under
normal circumstances have been an easy matter.
Nor is it impossible that the sheikh might have
been willing to grant a fresh concession under
proper conditions. But the course events have
taken, in particular the intervention of Messrs.
Wonckhaus and Co., has so far rendered this
impracticable; though when the questions now at
issue have been settled it may yet be possible for
steps to be taken in the matter. In any case, the pp. Ij ,
question whether Sagar's action violated the
rights of the partners, who were all British
subjects, is obviously one to be discussed, if at all,
between the sheikh and His Majesty s (govern
ment.
VII.
The agreement between the m p. 28.
Mr. W onckhdus, whicli
conclusion of an ordinary
business transaction, and
any polit ciL aims, neiih
lease agreement nor is in
to the interests of the State
the action taken hy Sheikh So gar
company eannot he justified oj
the general interests of
of the country.
It has been already pointed out that, whether
the. sheikh's action was " justifiable" or not, it
was certainly one which he had power to taKe,
and could not legally be questioned. His Majesty's
Government agree that the contract with
W nckhaus was not strictly a letting of the p. 26.
mines to him. But it is submitted that it w
not unnatural that the sheikh should look with
some apprehension upon the acquisition oi so
large an interest in the produce of the mines by
persons who were subject neither to his juris
diction nor to that of the British Besident
in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The German Government
are aware that as late as 1904 an attempt was
made to seize Abu Musa by a Belgian customs
officer in the Persian service, who hauled down
the sheikh's flag and hoisted the Persian standard.
And it cannot be denied that the actions of
Messrs. Wonckhaus have been eminently calculated