Page 266 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

254 Records of Bahrain

-3-

in one handwriting, unsupported by thumb impressions or aoole
! of tho alleged signatories. Nor la any description of the
alleged signotorleo glvon, thoir place of residence or reneon
for having special Knowledge of tho Hawar Islands. There is

no suggestion thnt they are residents, whether temporary or
permanent, of Hawar -- ond indeed there could not bej end
«
to be brief, their testimony ie to my mind *ntlnly voiceless.
4* A cloim for sovereignty based merely on geographical
contiguity le, es I understand it, of little practical value
save possibly in reepoct of on unoccupied area of land or on

island lying contiguous to or in the territorial waters of the
Jtato raising the cloim* «ere this not so on equally valid
cloim to tho whole of the star Peninsula might presumably be
reiGCd by the -audi Government l In the particular cose of the

Hewer Islands, or at least of the main Hawar Island, there is
mfficiont ovidenoa to show that they have been occupied, whe­
ther temporarily or permanently, for the past 150 odd yeora.
: It follows therefore thnt tho fullest consideration must bo
• given to the circumstances attendint that occupation, to the
nationality of the occupants, the authority they rcoognise
and to evidence of the exorcise of direot .Jurisdiction over

themj while geographical propinquity cannot be held by iteelf
to raise any speoial presumption favourable to 'star* This I
believe to be correct even though at low springs it ie possible
(as I am informed though I have not verified this by experiment)

to wade from the ;?etar mainland to a oertsln point on the mein
Hawar Island in about three feet of water.
6. The bare assertion of sovereignty made by the Shaikh of
tar must be devoid of value in the absence of corroboratory
evidence. The only evidence offered in this dispute is that
produoed by the Bahrain Government, whioh the Shaikh of Qatar
In his rejoinder attempts to ehow to be either false or in­
capable of bearing the construction put upon It hy the Bahrain

Government. A