Page 271 - The Persian Gulf Historical Summaries (1907-1953) Vol II
P. 271

256
                     Wc, Abdulla Salim al Subah, Ruler of Kuwait, hereby recognise the
                 said
                     ' V ............as C°nsul of the United States of America within our
                              HRon a whom 11 m®y concern to take due notice of this A’lan and
                 n       thc.sa,d           .......; aI1 such assistance as he may properly require
                 in the exercise of his official functions.
                     Given at Kuwait this....... day of .................. , 1951.







                                              APPENDIX K


                     Correspondence regarding British jurisdiction in Kuwait—1925 and 1952

                                                    (i)
                                              (Paragraph 167)

                Letter, dated November l 1925, from the Political Agent. Kuwait, to the Ruler
                                                of Kuwait
                     With reference to Your Excellency’s letter of yesterday’s date, I regret that my
                letter No. 342 dated the 24th October 1925 was not clear to Your Excellency, and
                that, even after our conversation on Wednesday evening, Your Excellency still
                seems to entertain some doubts as to the real objects of the Order in Council which
                has been issued. I am accordingly repeating the main points in other words, and
                I hope that by doing so I will remove these doubts.
                    In the first place I wish to make it perfectly clear that the powers conferred on
                me by this Order in Council do not extend to the subjects of any Muslim
                Government, such as Persians, Nejdis, &c., all of whom are considered for the
                purpose of jurisdiction as the same as Your Excellency’s own subjects.
                    The only Foreigners with whom I am in any way concerned are the subjects
                and protected persons of /Vo/i-Muslim Governments, such as America, France,
                Italy, Portugal, &c., and in their case, if any question should arise, I am sure Your
                Excellency would prefer that it should be dealt with by the representative of His
                Majesty’s Government rather than by yourself.
                    To reiterate: the powers conferred on me do extend to: —
                    (a)  British subjects and protected persons.
                    (b)  The subjects and protected persons of non-Muslim Foreign Governments.
                    (c)  Kuwait subjects, or the subjects of other Muslim Governments, registered
                          in my office as being regularly employed by British subjects, or the
                          subjects of non-Muslim Foreign Governments. Such people must, I
                          am sure you will agree, be considered as under the protection of His
                          Majesty’s Government. It is laid down in the Order in Council,
                          however, that if a Kuwait subject desires to institute a complaint
                          against a British subject, or the subject of a non-Muslim Foreign
                          Power, I can either decide the case in my own court, or, if both are
                          Muslims and agree, have the case referred to the Qadhi for decision.
                          Similarly if British subject or the subject of a non-Muslim Foreign
                          Government complains against a Kuwait subject, I shall ask your
                          Excellency to decide the case, and it is specially provided that employed
                          Kuwait subjects shall be dealt with in the same way as other Kuwait
                          subjects in this respect. In cases in which Kuwait subjects and
                          “ employed ” Kuwait subjects are concerned, however, as the latter are
                          under British protection for the time being, I think you will agree that
                          they have to have the same privileges in this respect as other British
                          subjects, and, as shown above, they lose no privileges as Kuwait subjects.
                    I think the above will remove the doubts from your mind and show you that
                   Order in Council will not injure the rights of anyone, and I shall be grateful if
                the
                you  will let me know if this is so.
   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276