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8. With this end in view, His Majesty’s Government suggest that the Iraqi
Government should immediately declare the areas in question as a settlement area
in accordance with the law above quoted, and that a British Land Settlement
Officer should be detailed, as soon as possible, to carry out the whole procedure of
Land Settlement as specified by the law. This would mean that, after a full and
impartial investigation including outside claims (account being taken of all the
circumstances, as provided in Article 13 of the law), the boundaries of the lands in
question would be delimited by a decision of the Land Settlement Officer and
subsequently registered by the Tapu Department, under Article 20 of the law.
His Majesty’s Government assume that such orders as may be necessary will be
issued by the proper authorities to ensure that the Shaikhs’ non-Iraqi nationality
will constitute no impediment or delay to the completion of the registration.
9. An obvious advantage of these proposals is that the result of their
application would be to safeguard the rights of all Iraqi subjects, while preventing
the recurrence of unfounded claims against the Shaikhs. Article 32 of the Land
Settlement Law provides that, within a settlement area, during the period of
settlement, no case concerning any matter touching the settlement of rights in land
shall be heard in any court other than the special court provided for in the law.
His Majesty’s Government are aware of the decision of the Court of Cassation
delivered on October 29th, 1934, in Appeal Case No. 8 of 1934, where by Article 32
of the Land Settlement Law was declared to apply to all suits, whether brought
before or after the application of that law to the area in which the lands are
situated; so that all pending suits are, by the operation of the law, transferred to
the Land Settlement Officer. I shall be grateful to be assured that the suits now
pending in the Basra Courts in respect of the lands of the Shaikh of Koweit will
remain stayed until the transfer to the Land Settlement Officer can take place
under Article 32 referred to above.
10. The possibility of further litigation against the Shaikh of Koweit would
be confined to appeals to the special court set up by virtue of Article 4 of the law
against the decision of the Land Settlement Officer. These are permitted within
a maximum period of forty days (Article 23 of the law). His Majesty’s
Government suggest that, for the convenience of all concerned, the special court
be set up in Basra under the presidency of the President of the Civil Courts there.
11. His Majesty’s Government fully realise that the application of land
settlement to specified properties in the Basra liwa may interfere with the general
course of land settlement now in operation. They are also aware that it would
necessitate a special survey of the properties being carried out on a scale of not
less than 1/20,000. In view, however, of the obvious advantages of the course
proposed as a means of overcoming the difficulties that have arisen, they feel
convinced that the Iraqi Government will not allow administrative questions of
detail to stand in the way. They presume that survey operations could not be
begun before the end of the hot weather and they would be glad to learn that the
Iraqi Government concur in their proposals and that arrangements will accordingly
be made for the survey to be undertaken as soon as possible.
12. His Majesty’ Government are prepared to abide by the decisions of the
Land Settlement Officer as to the boundaries of the lands in question and by any
modifications of these decision which may result from subsequent appeals to the
special court provided for by the law. They are further prepared to undertake '
not to make any claim against the Iraqi Government in respect of any changes
which may result to the present boundaries of the Shaikh’s lands in consequence
of the land settlement procedure.
13. As the case of the Shaikh of Koweit is the more urgent of the two, it is
proposed that land settlement procedure should be applied to his properties first,
and that the application of the procedure to the properties of the Shaikh of
Mohammerah should be undertaken immediately afterwards.
14. Your Excellency will, I trust, agree that His Majesty’s Government have
gone a long way towards meeting the Iraqi point of view and that they are giving
evidence of their confidence in the good will of Your Excellency’s Government,
as well as of their own desire for a fair and lasting solution.
15. The present proposals of His Majesty’s Government are intended to form
a new point of departure in this complicated matter.
I avail myself of this opportunity to express to Your Excellency the assurance
of my highest consideration.
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