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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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