'File 4/34 Kuwait Territorial Waters' [‎21r] (41/112)

KJL.
CONFIDENTIAL.
The Iblitical Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ,T-
Kuwait.
J).0, No.C/294.
Dated the 13th April, 1947.
Subject:- Status of Kuwait Bay
y dear Colonel,
Please refer to your printed letter No.516-3 dated
the 28th March, 1947.
2. The second suggestion in Dunbar’s letter to
Donaldson is not practicable as there are no suitable existing
laws in Kuwait. The first suggestion could, in theory, be
carried out but in practice it would be difficult as the Shaikh
has never yet enacted a law of this nature. In fact there is
really no established process in Kuwait for enacting laws : and
a statement signed by the Shaikh and displayed to the public
to the effect that Kuwait Bay was territorial waters would be
quite unprecedented and would cause a great deal of comment.
i
3. The third suggestion is more practicable, but, again,
such a regulation would cause comment. Since the Shaikh has in
the past successfully prevented non-Kuwaitis from fishing in the
bey in spite of the fact that no regulations about it existed,
where, it would be asked, is the necessity for suddenly producing
a regulation now ?
4. There is, of course, no objection to the suggestion
in the penultimate paragraph of Dunbar’s letter.
5. I am averse to making any suggestion to the Shaikh
that he should depart from established custom in the issuing
(or non-issuing) of laws and regulations, and I am sure that he
himself would be most reluctant to do so. Any claim founded on
such laws or regulations would be regarded (by neighbouring
oriental countries at any rate) as obviously prompted and
engineered by us. The Shaikh would if necessary be able to
prove by oral evidence that he has denied to non-Kuwaitis on
several occasions in the past the right to fish in Kuwait bay,
and this would, in my opinion, be the only evidence worth
producing in support of a claim based on configuration and
other grounds
Yours sincerely,
The Hon’ble LT-Colonel, W.R. Hay, 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
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , BAHRAIN.