Page 113 - Arabian Studies (II)

The Powers and Mineral Concessions in the IdrisT Imamate of *.Asir 103

Administration before the First World War, was in Aden making
enquiries as to the condition of the Sallf salt mines. But even had a
British company succeeded in obtaining the concession from Imam
Yahya the British Government could ‘not even diplomatically’ have
given any support to the Company till ‘H.M.G.’s relations with the
Imam are put on a friendly footing’.1 44
A few words from Philby arc in place. Britain tried to maintain a
monopoly of all concessions in Arabia but such ‘a policy may be
justifiable on a narrow view of British imperial interests. But it is
unsound as it is unjust to the beneficiaries of our protection. And it
is definitely contrary to the spirit of the MacMahon promises’. 4 5

[Since the names of some of the small islands have been taken from archives in
Roman character and it has not been possible to check the Arabic spellings, even
in Hamzah ‘Alf Lugman, TdrTkh al-juzur al-yamaniyyah, Beirut, 1972, the
correctness of the transliterations is sometimes uncertain. Eds. ]