File 1421/1908 Pt 3 'Persia: oil; negotiations between the Shaikh of Mohammerah and the Anglo-Persian Oil Co.' [‎278r] (121/338)

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{* 26 NOVI910
No. 2647 (Confidential), dated Bnshire, the 2 nd (received the 10 th) October 1910 .
From-LJEUTENANT-COLONEL P. Z. Cox, C.S.I., C.I.E., Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the
To The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department, Simla.
1 have the honour to refer to my telegram No. 62, of 10th June ,qio
reporting the mtent.on of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to commence boring
for o,l n the terntory of the Shaikh of Mohammerah ; and to forward for The
information of the Government of India, copies of correspondence which has
(0 Mohammerah Consulate, No. 723, dated 16th Since passed on the subject, between His
(2) Mohammerah Consulate, No. 906, dated 27th ^ a ^' onsu ^ Mohammerah
August 1910. and the Agents of the Company, received
reports marginally cited. ° f Lieutenant Wils °n’s two
2 It will be seen from the papers that while the Oil Company, feelin* that
th ?K .T'd T 6 - 1 l 00 c ° m P lacent and too freely bled in their dealings in the past
with the Bakhtians, and being disinclined to repeat the experience exoress their
intent,on to proceed on different lines in future, and toTeT m^e o P n a strie
interpretation and enforcement of their rights under the original D'Arcy Con-
tT'lrn 60 T 1 - 0 '';, no ^ e their intentions, expresses the view
.b , ? s M ex JP alned b Z- hlm,thatthe P ursuanc e of a too rigid policy with
the Shaikh of Mohammerah is likely to be beset by more difficulties P than the
Company have perhaps fully realised, and advises them to shape their conterT
plated negotiations on more liberal and elastic lines.
t * , W \\ thiS J ,ew » ^.^erally concur. The Company, whatever may be their
stnct rights under their original concession, have to reckon with arf impotent
Government at Tehran and the practical situation in Arabistan, and I have no
doubt myself that it will prove more profitable for them in the long run to carry
the Shaikh with them in their enterprise than to endeavour, so far as his territory
is concerned, to pursue any policy in spite of him. J
3. The particular points raised by the correspondence, "namely, (z) the
precise nature of the Shaikh’s rights under his farmans, (zY) the bearing of the
onginal L) Arcy Concession upon those rights, (m) the question whether the
bhaikh s lands in which the Company may wish to operate are “ State lands ” or
other lands under article (3) of that concession, will doubtless be examined
when the time comes by the Legal Advisers to His Majesty’s Government. For
the present they are not in practical issue, and there seems therefore no object
in my discussing them at length.
1 should not omit to remark, however, that I do not know on what Mr. Black
is relying, when he writes in his letter of 25th August “the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency.
in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is fully aware of the point that the Shaikh possesses no
min ^ r£ T Hg^ts,” nor is it the case that the Shaikh of Mohammerah made any
such admission, in the same connection, as that with which he is credited in
Mr. Black’s later letter of 26th August. As he had not his farmans with him
at the time, and had a very hazy idea of their precise wording and details, it is
obviously unlikely that he would have volunteered such a gratuitous admission,
whether it were a fact or not.
4- lu conclusion I beg reference to Lieutenant Wilson’s letter No. 906 of
2 7th August to my address, paragraph 4, and would observe that Deh Mulla
and Hindian being within a few miles of one another on the same river bank, and
under the same headman, it would be natural to regard them as one place, the
other place referred to being “ the lands east of the Karun,’’ a long way off.
A copy of this communication
Tehran, for information.
is being forwarded to His Majesty’s Minister,