Page 106 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

1 44 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES

status quo in Kuwait provided that the British Government did not
annex, or establish a protectorate over, Kuwait.1
:
Two further agreements were later signed by the Shaikh of Kuwait.
The first, of 24 May 1900, was concerned with the suppression of
‘Arms Trade'. This agreement, similar to those agreements signed by
the other Gulf Shaikhdoms, was in line with the policy of the"British
Government at that period to halt the alarming intrusions of arms
traffic in the Arabian Gulf. The agreement pledged the Shaikh to the
prevention of ‘the importation of arms into Kuwait or exportation
therefrom’.2
Under the second Agreement of 28 February 1904 the Shaikh agreed
to allow the establishment of a British Post Office at Kuwait, and to
disallow the establishment of any post office belonging to a foreign
! government.3
The postal agreement was followed, on 26 July 1912,4 by an accep­
tance by the Shaikh of Kuwait of the British Government’s offer to
establish a ‘Wireless Telegraph Installation’ at Kuwait.5
In 1911 and in 1913, the Shaikh gave two undertakings restricting
his power in respect of exploitation of the natural resources of his
territories without obtaining the prior consent of the British Govern­
ment. The first undertaking, in the form of a letter of 1911, dealt
specifically with ‘Pearling concessions’. It was written by the Shaikh
to Captain W. H. I. Shakespeare, the British Political Agent at Ku-
1 Lorimer, pp. 1030-1. This agreement did not come into force.
2 Aitchison, pp. 262-3.
3 Ibid., p. 263. It is to be noted that the Agreement of 1904 came to an end on
1 February 1959 by the agreement of both the British Government and Kuwait.
On this date, the London General Post Office which administered the Kuwait
postal service in the past, handed over the services to the Government of Kuwait.
See The (Bahrain) Gulf Daily Times, 3 February 1959.
4 Aitchison, p. 264. The Agreement of 1912 also came to an end on 1 February
1959. On this date the service was handed over to the Kuwait Government's
Cable and Wireless Department. See The (Bahrain) Gulf Daily Times, loc. cit.
6 In 1907, the Shaikh made a perpetual lease to the British Government of a
Portion of land in the south of Bandar Shuwaikh for Rs. 60,000 per annum,
leaving to them the right to relinquish the lease at any time they wished to do so.
It may be argued that the lease of Bandar Shuwaikh constituted a derogation of
the British Government’s pledge with Turkey, according to the Agreement of
1901, to respect the status quo in Kuwait.
Generally speaking, however, the lease of Bandar Shuwaikh, although it con-
ferred on the British Government some privileges with regard to the administration
of a portion of the territory of Kuwait, did not amount to annexation of the leased
land. Moreover the Shaikh was explicitly assured that the British Government
reco gnised his sovereignty over Kuwait and her boundaries, including the leased
The Shaikh’s rights in collecting ‘customs duties in the Shuwaikh lands or any
other lands’ that the British Government ‘might thereafter lease from him or his
heirs after him’ were also left undiminished. See Aitchison, p. 204; India, Foreign
and Political Department, Part 5, op. cit.