"ملف 38/17 تخطيط حدود الساحل المتصالح ومناطق امتياز شركة امتيازات النفط المحدودة في الساحل المتصالح" [و‎‎٢‎٥] (٢٢٥/٥٠)

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act regarded by thea at promising. Fujairah is the headquarters /
of a bhaikh who possesses influence and force of character and holds
a considerable area under his svey as will be seen from Colonel
Calloway’s map. Ha has for soma coraiderable time been seeking
recognition by His Majesty's Government but the matter has never
been taken up by my predecessors mostly I think on account of a
reluctance to add to the number of petty Trucial Coast Sheikhdoms.
Mr. hermltte Manager of Messrs Petroleum Concessions Limited's
office at Bahrain has informed ne that he Is anxious to obtain a
concession for the territory of this Sheikhdom and 1 have advised
him to address tn« Political Agent officially on the subject*
feften he has done this 1 will consider the question of granting
recognition to the Shaikh and if necessary address you further on
this subject. In the extreme west the Gil Company have already
been asked not to operate beyond the line claimed by Ibn baud,
ihe xost difficult area is that to the east and south-east of the
Buralml oasis. The Gil Company have already carried out some
exploration here in direct negotiation with the tribes Kost of
wnom are nominally subject to the bultan of Muscat but do not
recognise his authority. Thera is a medley of tribes here with
Shaikhs whose paramountcy may or may not be acknowledged by the
tribesmen and with indefinite boundaries. None of the Shaikhs
have any agreement with His Majesty’s Government though.some of
them call on the Political Officer or Residency Agent from time to
time* For the present all we can do is to leave the Company to
aake their own arrangements with the tribes for the time being.
Should they eventually decide tc start drilling anywhere in this
area we shall have to endeavour to reach seme kind of settlement
with the tribe or tribes concerned in consultation with the Puler
who claims sovereignty over thesu
5* The first essential is to build a house and offices for a
British Political Officer and his staff as without tnls a British
officer should not be asked tc remain on the Trucial Coast through
out the hot weather* a site has already been selected provision
ally and His Majesty's Government's approval and the allotment of
funds are awaited* The Political Officer Trucial Coast is at
present subordinate to the Political Agent Bahrain but I am of
opinion tnat in order to deal satisfactorily with the numerous
recognised Pulers and unrecognised shaikhs 9 tc settle boundary and
other disputes between them and to cope with the expanding activ
ities of Messrs* Petroleum Concessions Limited and the local
developments that are likely to result from them the creation of
separate Political Agency Is necessary* lip to 1934 when our sole
interest was to keep the peace at sea and we concerned ourselves
little with internal affairs the Trucial Coast was dealt with direct
by the Political Resident through an Arab Residency Agent who
lived at Sharjah. After that owing to the development of air
eommunlcations ana tne grant of oil concessions by the rulers it
was found that the Political Fesident with his headquarters at
Bushlre was tot remote to handle the numerous questions which
began to arise himself and the bhalkhdons were placed under the
control of the Political Agent Bahrain* dince 1940 a British
Political Officer has usually resided st Sharjah during the cold
weather in subordination to the Political Agent. The latter
officer already has his hands full with the greatly increased work
resulting from modern developments in Ba rain and with the numerous
problems arising from 4 oil development in Qatar and has no longer
time to devote to Trucial Coast affairs the attention which they
d*servo.
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6* kith the necessity that has arisen for us to assume respon
sibility for the maintenance of law and order not only by sea but
also in the interior of tho T^ucial Coast Sheikhdoms 1 was origin
ally of opinion that it would be necessary to recruit a force
similar to the Aden Protectorate levies* On further consideration
have come to the conclusion that for the present at any rate then
no necessity to establish such a force. Quite apart from the
fact that it would be almost impossible to obtain satisfactory
recruits locally 9 as the B*A*K* found when they formed local Levy
Corps during the war 9 1 am of opinion that we could deal with any
situation likely to arise through His Majesty's Navy or loyal Air