Page 109 - Arabian Studies (II)

The Towers and Mineral Concessions in the IdrisT I inornate of'Asir 99
When Wolfson had reported on the JTzan discussions the Company
sent a memorandum to ibn SaTid which stated its answers to the
IdrlsT’s fifteen points. An increase in the royalty to 25 per cent was
‘out of the question’. Clarification was requested on the IdrlsT’s
second demand since the contract limited the concession area to the
Farasan Islands. The Company agreed that ibn Sa‘ud should replace
the Resident. On the fourth point the Company informed ibn Sa‘ud
that it had agreed to pay £3000 protection money — indeed this sum
had already been paid and there was no reason for any increase. The
IdrisT had been told long before the dispute had arisen that foreign
labour would be used only when IdrisT subjects lacked the necessary
skills but that local people would be trained. On the question of the
supply to IdrisT of his needs in oil and gas gratis the Company
pointed out that they had already supplied him freely but were
prepared to conclude another agreement on the subject. The
Company said they would always respect local laws. With regard to
the IdrTsT’s ninth demand the Company said they did not ask for
anything else. The next demand the Company said they could easily
accept. The demand that the Company was only to trade in petrol
had been written into - and respected - the original contract. With
regard to loans the Company answered that they could be discussed
with the IdrisT but would have to be kept separate from the main
agreement. The last of the demands could not be met as the
Company had agreed to pay two shillings for every ton and this
would benefit the whole population of ‘AsTr. 1 2 4
The Company requested the High Commissioner in Egypt to
forward the memorandum to ibn Sa‘ud but Cairo suspended
transmission as it objected to the Company agreeing to the
‘subjection’ of the Company’s employees to local jurisdiction as ‘this
might be inconvenient to us in view of the fact that we have avoided
making such an admission as regard British subjects at Jedda’. 1 2 5
The Foreign Office agreed with Cairo and advised the Company to
refuse to accept the IdrTsT’s demand that the Company’s employees
should be subject to local laws as it involved a question of
international relations. As an alternative the Foreign Office suggested
that it rephrase that part of its memorandum to read that the
Company’s employees would be ‘peaceful and law-abiding persons
who will not cause any trouble to His Highness’.1 2 6
By 1928 ibn Sa‘ud had neither proposed any solution nor
commented on the Company’s memorandum: in addition the
Company had run into technical difficulties on its well on Zlfaf
Island and wished to transfer its operations to Ras HassTs, but Sayyid
Hasan refused to permit this until the settlement of the dispute.127