Page 643 - PERSIAN 8 1931_1940_Neat

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March. During this attack Shaikh Hasliar bin Rashid and his son Bali
were killed, but Shaikh Maui bin Rashid and his brother Muktum
lied to Slmrjah after holding out for two days. Shaikhs Sa’id and Suhail
Auwlad Bnti also lied to Sharjah, where the party were joined by a number of
their adherents who had been out in the desert. The question then arose what
was to happen to the refugees whose presence in Sharjah, so close to Dubai, gave
promise of continued disturbance. On the 2nd April the Political Agent,
Bahrain, arrived at Dubai and had an interview with Shaikh Sa’id of Dubai on
board li. M. S. “ Deptford The Shaikh of Dubai promised that he would
restore the property of the refugees and grant allowances to those
who were in need provided they went to live in some more distant
Shaikhdom. All the Trucial Coast Shaikhs refused to accept the Mana
party lest they be involved in future trouble with Dubai, but pressure was
brought to bear on the Shaikh of Sharjah to expel the mores prominent members
of the party from liis State and after long dragged out negotiations Shaikh
Mana and the Aulad Bati became the rafiqs of the A1 Bu Shami Shaikh, Moham­
mad bin llamad, of Hamasa. The Shaikh of Dubai handed over their movable
properties, but refused to hand back the property of certain of Shaikh Mann’s
adherents who remained in Sharjah.
On the 14th October the brother and son of the Shaikh of Dubai put out the
eyes of five persons who were accused of complicity in a plot to secure the return
of Shaikh Mana to Dubai. This action caused a strong revulsion of feeling in
Dubai against the Shaikh, and in order to take full advantage of the situation
Shaikh Mana and his adherents returned from Hamasa to Sharjah territory
where they began to collect a force in order to make an attack on Dubai. Up to
the end of the year no attack had been made but there was considerable uneasi­
ness and unrest in Dubai town.
(ix) Oil.—(a) On the lltli January 1939, protracted negotiations with the
Shaikh of Abu Dhabi were brought to a successful conclusion by Petroleum
Concessions Limited who obtained from him a concession for a period of 75
years.
(b) In the early part of tho year Petroleum Concessions Limited were eu-
gaged.in aerial reconnaissance and 'photography both over Oman and over tho
Trucial Coast, hinterland. Among special areas covered by a mosaic of vertical
photographs were Jebel Fayali, Jebel Aqdar and Jebel Hafit. It had been in­
tended to proceed during the winter of 1939-40 with a ground survey in the areas
shown by aerial reconnaissance to be hopeful and with geophysical exploration
by the gravitymeter method in Abu Dhabi and other areas west of the Oman
range. Owing to the outbreak of the war these programmes have been indefi­
nitely suspended.
II. WEIGHTMAN,
Political Agent, Bahrain.

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