Page 453 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

Notes to Chapter Three
54 Letter from Muhammad bin 'Ubaid to the Deputy Political Resident
dated 1 August 1920. In this letter he claims "I used to go to him every
day but I never saw him with good countenance", in IOR R/15/1/239.
55 Letter no. 611 from the Residency Agent to the Deputy Political Resident
dated 4 August 1920 in IOR R/15/1/239.
56 See IOR R/15/1/236, "Arab States Monthly Summary 1929-1931”,
September 1931.
57 See below pages 214ff and Chapter Eight, footnote 41.
58 An extreme example was the case of 'Abdullah bin KhamTs, who was
styled omTrof Daqta, belonging toRa’sal Khaimah and near to the town.
But he was from the Naqbiyfn tribe, most of whom resided in and near
Kalba and he was therefore considered a subject of the Qasimi shaikh of
Kalba. He was killed near Masafi in 1928 by Sharqiyin, subjects of the
Ruler of Fujairah; thus the aftermath of this murder involved Sultan bin
Salim of Ra’s al Khaimah and Sa’Id bin Hamad of Kalba as well as
Hamad bin 'Abdullah of Fujairah; see IOR R/15/1/278.
59 See UK Memorial II, Annex E, nos 4 and 5, pp. 246ff. Much of the
information used in this paragraph which does not appear in the
Memorial was obtained from talking to elderly people of Abu Dhabi and
to employees of the oil companies.
60 Wells drilled were Bab no. 1 (January 1953 to October 1954), Gezira no. 1
(January 1955 to March 1956) and Shuwaihat no. 1 (November 1956 to
November 1957). The first seismic survey was made in 1949/50 on Abu
Dhabi island, then at Mirfa (1951), Jebel Baraka east of the Subkhat
Matti (1953/4), Subkhat Matti (1954/5), Bainuna (1955), Sila (1955) and
Udaid (1956), Murban (1957); from the end of 1954 to early 1956 seismic
marine surveys were also made in the shallow waters of Ras Sadr, Ras
Mushairib, Udaid, West Murban, Ruwais Shuwaihat and Sila (spelling
according to oil company usage).
61 Some names of head guards mentioned were Banduq. 'Abdullah bin
Salih, Mani’ bin ’Abdullah al Muhairi and Ghais Muhanna al Qubaisi.
62 The most prominent case was the strike of spring 1963 at the camp of
the Santa Fe drilling company soon after the oil company had started to
use contractors for drilling, construction and various other activities,
and marked differences in the conditions of work and pay became
apparent. On this occasion Shaikh Zayid, the Ruler’s representative in
al 'Ain, was sent to Tarff and he succeeded in persuading the excited
tribesmen to return to work. Because all major issues concerning the
local labour force were in those days discussed with Shaikh Shakhbut,
company representatives informed him in September 1961 of the
intention to terminate the employment of most of the local labour force,
who would, however, all be re-employed immediately under the same
conditions by the various contractors. Shaikh Shakhbut did not object
to this in principle but was adamant that it was ultimately the
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