Page 100 - Arabian Studies (II)

90 Arabian Studies II
Office instructed Aden to offer no support to Cooper.77 Two days
later Cooper and Sayyid Mustafa reached JTzan where the latter was
easily able to convince Sayyid Hasan to cancel the concessions sold
to the Eastern and General Syndicate — an easy task in view of the
unilateral changes made by Craufurd to the concession agreement he
had just concluded with Sayyid Hasan. On 22 September Sayyid
Hasan announced the cancellation of the agreement with Craufurd
since the Syndicate had failed to fulfil the terms of the concession.78
Sayyid Mustafa confirmed this to the Resident whom he visited
shortly afterwards. He alleged that the Syndicate had failed to pay
the second and third instalments of Rupees 10,000 and Rupees
15,000 within the stipulated time. The loan of Rupees 100,000 with
which the IdrTsI was to purchase arms had also not been paid.
Thirdly, said Sayyid Mustafa, the Syndicate had made various
changes in the agreement which the Idris! refused to accept. Sayyid
Mustafa then produced copies of a new contract which he had
negotiated and which the Idris! had granted Cooper on behalf of the
Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co., a subsidiary of Shell Mex, for the
Farasan concession.79 The Arabic version of the agreement with
Anglo-Saxon bore the seal of Sayyid Hasan and the signatures of
Sayyid Mustafa and Cooper: it provided for the search and
production of kerosene, naptha, tar, asphalt, natural carburetted gas
and any other kind of mineral oils after the payment of £5000. The
agreement also provided for a royalty of £1 for every ten tons of
crude oil after the extraction of water and sediment and £1 for every
40 tons of solid state material such as asphalt which was exported.
Cooper was only willing to supply ammunition to the Idris! with the
permission of the Resident,80 and only when he had obtained such
permission did he make his request to the Resident to lend him half a
million rounds.81
On the 6th October Cooper was told that the seal appeared
genuine but that the terms of the concession could not be enforced
under British law: nor would the Resident accept any responsibility
for arbitrating between the Idris! and Cooper in the event of any
dispute. The same day Sayyid Mustafa requested the Resident to
i notify Craufurd that his contract had been cancelled and that his
stay in JTzan was ‘undesirable’. On the 7th in the course of another
interview with the Resident, Sayyid Mustafa requested that all
facilities be granted Cooper for the supply of ammunition.8 2 This
presented Aden with a dilemma: Craufurd of the rival company had
left for JTzan with 100,000 rounds from the Residency stock: now
here was Cooper asking for a similar quantity. The Resident asked
the Colonial Office for a quick decision so that the question of the