Coll 30/9 'Persian Gulf: Administration Reports 1926-1938' [‎33r] (70/1028)

result h oVth r e h S earch CC for oil in the^State' 1 ab i Uty de P end on
steady source of income be assured to" tbV 4 i? ld thlS .^ e ^^cessful and a
feel 4 way cautiouTy! as Wtherto tne’, TwouM tt^hfr 63 t0
means outside the bounds of possibility that Saiyid Said will be the first
of the whok ofhis Sultanate. f ° Under ° f ^ ^ name t0 be the real ruler
its due date, i.e. February 11 th.
Negotiations for the New Treaty, to replace that of 1891, which had been
commenced m Muscat and India in 1937 were carried to their closing stages
m London during His Highness,’ visit to England in the autumn of 1938.
I he tew remaining points requiring amendments and corrections were agreed
upon between His Majesty’s Government and the Sultan at the end of the
yeair and the Treaty in its final form was ready in December for signature
which is to be carried out early in the new year.
4. Oil Concessions. — {a) Muscat Oil .—Petroleum Concessions, Ltd., who
had obtained an oil concession in the Arabian territories of the Sultanate
and in the Province of Dhofar commenced explorations in the last quarter
of the year.
On the 18th October Mr. S. H. Longrigg, General Manager arrived in
Muscat to make arrangements for a party of geologists of his Company to
carry out a survey. He had several discussions with His Highness in which
details of the journies to be made by land and by air were discussed. Mi .
Longrigg left for Bahrain on the 5th November.
Mr. Thompson and Mr. Hotchkiss, geologists of the Company arrived
on 1st November. K. S. Hasan Mohammad Saleh of Aden, Interpreter
having arrived a week earlier.
The geological party left Muscat on 4th November by motor boat for
Khabura whence they carried out a journey into the interior visiting Yanqul,
Hafit and Baraimi and returning to Muscat on 4th December. The attitude
of the Sheikhs and tribes of the districts traversed, with minor exceptions,
was friendly and helpful.
According to unofficial information received from the Senior Geologist,
the result of the explorations of the country towards the west of the Sultanate
was disappointing as far as the districts of Yanqul, Hafit and Baraimi were
concerned but it was said that the regions between those places and the
coast were worthy of further examination.
The Geological party left for Rass al Hadd by motor dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. on the 18th De
cember where they were met by the Company’s aeroplane which had flown
out from England a few days previously. Aerial surveys over a period of
four days were carried out over the interior. They returned on the -5th
December having abandoned their original intention of proceeding with t re
reconnaissances to the south for the reason that the motor dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. hired as a
tender vessel was unsuitable for the purpose. It was then decided to arrange
for passing Tankers to carry out the work of moving personnel and stores
from one base camp to another. On 26th December the Company s aero-
nlane arrived in Muscat and on 27th December made a two nours flight over
the interior The same day Mr. Hotchkiss, geologist, Mr. Barnes, Mechanic,
Managefm'regfrTLteLrfpknl^nS proposed to ca?ry out aerial surveys
S afofrs fear he “ ^ NeS0 '
tiations were still is progress at the end of the year.
5. Judicial. —Judicial matters form the subject of a separate repor .
23^8) EAD