Page 324 - UAE Truncal States

The External Influences

arranged lhat he should receive 000 Rupees a month as rent for the
landing-strip, landing fees, and a personal subsidy of 500 Rupees.
The Ruler had to build the rest-house for the crew and passengers.62
Emergency landing facilities for British Imperial Airways were
secured by an agreement with SaTd bin Hamad in Kalba in August
1936; he had been recognised as a Trucial Ruler precisely for that
purpose.03 Eventually Imperial Airways’ flying-boats were also
allowed to land on the RAF landing area in Dubai creek. During the
Second World War Britain made quite liberal use of its facilities, and
the number of landings as well as the number of military personnel
living in Sharjah increased dramatically. In 1949 a new agreement
was negotiated between the British Government and the Ruler of
Sharjah regarding the use of the airport and other facilities as a RAF
base.

Territorial sovereignty during early oil exploration
With the establishment of the air facilities at Sharjah, there was for
the first time a physical British presence on the coast; a Residency
Agent had been there since 1829 but he was never an Englishman.
The safety and maintenance of the airstrip, the fuel depot, the guest
house and the route to and from the airport had to beguaranteed. The
Rulers who agreed to the establishment of such facilities on their
territories realised that this was a political burden for them, because
the semi-independent tribes in the hinterland were liable to use these
facilities as a pretext for disputes with the Ruler. In the event of
serious trouble, the British Government had to step in to protect the
facilities and sometimes the host Ruler.
The new British interest in parts of the coastal strip thus promoted
the first step towards the abandonment of the principle of non­
involvement in the interior. Before the Second World War the British
Government of India tried to avoid negotiating with representatives
of the tribes in the hinterland by diplomatically supporting the
actual, or the claimed, authority of the Trucial Rulers over these
tribes. The administration in Bushire rarely stirred when a dispute
arose between a Trucial Ruler and a neighbouring beduin or settled
tribe of the interior. Not only was there no legal basis for British
intervention in disputes which were not fought at sea, but some
British authorities may even have regarded it as a welcome develop­
ment that the coastal shaikhs should seize every opportunity to
assert their influence over the people in the interior. We have already

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