ملف رقم ٤٣٤٥ لسنة ١٩١٢ "السكة الحديدية العابرة لبلاد فارس" [و‎‎٢‎٥] (٣٣٠/٥٤)

tThis Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government ]
[A]
PERSIA.
(M
[February 24.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1,
[7681]
No. 1.
Foreign Office to Sir W. Garstin.
feir ’ . _ Foreign Office, February 24, 1913.
UjN receipt of your letter of the 15th January ou the subject of the mter-group
agreement in regard to the Trans-Persian Railway, and in particular the additional
declaration desired by the French group, Sir E. Grey forthwith caused the points at
issue to be referred for expert opinion to the Board of Trade.
The matter was obviously one requiring careful consideration, for the wording of
a technical document of this nature may not improbably affect the larger question
of actual control over various portions of the line.
It is obsei ved that the draft declaration, enclosed in your letter of the 15th January,
is to the effect that the agreement between the Russian and British groups, which
formed enclosuie B m your letter of the 20th Becember, does not modify in any respect
the rights of the drench group as they result from the international agreement as to
principle, the agreements annexed thereto, and the statutes of the Societe d’Etudes.
The international agreement lays down that:—
The realisation of the trans-Persian line connecting the Russian system with
the Indo-British system shall be undertaken by mutual consent, by an international
group composed of Russian, French, and English elements upon a footing of equality.
The rights of the owners of shares of the Societe d’Etudes, of which mention
is made hereinafter, such as they shall be defined by, and result from, the constitution
of the Societe d’Etudes, shall extend subsequently in the same proportions to all
companies which may be formed with the object of rendering effectively valuable the
concessions secured m view of the construction of the said line or concessions arising
out of or connected with the working of the same.
The group is agreed to request the Societe d’Etudes to recommend the
companies to be formed as above, to acquire the assistance of the technical elements of
their choice on the basis of the equal distribution above mentioned, this basis being
equally applicable to the technical and industrial sections, to the construction and to
the material and supplies.”
The application of the principle thus formulated would necessitate an equal
participation of the three national groups in any companies which may be formed for
the construction or working of any portions of the proposed line or of any branches
thereof.
You will recall that, in my letter of the 4th February, it is stated that the assent
of His Majesty’s Government to the_ project of a trans-Persian railway is subject to
the conditions, inter alia, that “ British control must predominate in the southern or
Gulf section of any trans-Persian line, or of the branches, wdiich may be made, and
that this control shall not be invalidated by any arrangement which may be made in
regard to the percentage of other (i.e., non-British) participation in the undertaking.”
These stipulations, to which His Majesty’s Government attach paramount
importance, are undoubtedly at variance with the literal text of the international
agreement as to principle quoted above ; they do not, however, appear to necessitate
any practical diminution of the right of the French group under that agreement to one
third participation in the capital of any company formed to work concessions.
In these circumstances His Majesty’s Government consider that any declaration,
such as that forming the enclosure in your letter of the 15th January, should be so
worded as to make it clear that the “ rights of the French group ” referred to therein
mean the right to one-third share of the capital and not to absolute equality with each of
the other two participating countries.
For the confidential information of your group I am to state that it has been
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