1. 'File 9/7 Report on Trade Conditions in Persian Gulf'

Description:

Abstract: The file contains a report compiled by the Vice-Consul at Bushire, J G Baillie, on a commercial tour of the Arab Coast of the Persian Gulf. The report focusses on trade; in particular: the importance of Bahrain; the abundance of cheap Japanese goods (cotton, silk and pearls), which has been damaging the local production; the poverty of the locals; British commercial interests (Imperial Airways); the blockade of Kuwait by Ibn Saud; the import of motors and goods from Britain and the USA; and currency. The file also contains correspondence between the Political Agent in Kuwait and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, regarding the establishment of a depot for American oil machinery at Basra.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 18; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-16; these numbers are also written in pencil, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence, but they are not circled.

2. Coll 30/80 'Trade: Reports on Persian Gulf Market and trading possibilities'

Description:

Abstract: The file contains information on economic and trade conditions in the states located on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf, and discussion of the potential market there for British goods. The main correspondents are the Department of Overseas Trade, and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf. The file also contains a number of detailed reports from British officials, which were submitted to the Department of Overseas Trade.The first of these reports, dated 1931, relates specifically to cotton piece-goods, and consists of a general report by the British Vice-Consul at Bushire on the Arab coast market, and reports on local conditions from the Political Agents at Kuwait and Muscat, the Residency Agent, Shargah [Sharjah] (relating to Debai [Dubai] and the Trucial Coast), and the Director of Customs and Port Officer, Bahrain. Further general reports on economic conditions in the Persian Gulf by various British Vice-Consuls at Bushire, are dated 1934-37 (including a Department of Overseas Trade published version, for October 1934, folios 126-144). There are also other reports on local conditions, and general correspondence concerning economic conditions and the market for British goods. Papers from 1936 onwards show increasing awareness of the importance of oil in enhancing the potential economic significance of the Gulf states.The following correspondence is also of note:Folios 73-75, dated 1938, draw attention to the increasing market for Indian products and the potentially increasing field of employment for Indians in the Persian Gulf, particularly at Bahrain.Folios 66-69, dated 1942, concern the export of tobacco to the Persian Gulf.Folios 57-64, dated 1946, concern difficulties experienced by merchants in Kuwait in obtaining British goods.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 355; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

3. Coll 28/62 ‘Persia. Soviet commercial penetration in:’

Description:

Abstract: The first part of the file (ff 52-75) contains correspondence dated 1932, exchanged between: HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tehran, Reginald Hervey Hoare; John Gilbert Laithwaite of the India Office; George William Rendel of the Foreign Office; Cecil Claude Farrer of the Department of Overseas Trade. The correspondence is in response to a memorandum entitled ‘Economic characteristics of Russian trade with the South of Persia compared with British’, written by the Probationer Vice-Consul at Bushire, J W Blanch (ff 71-72).The second part of the file (ff 23-51) contains correspondence dated 1933, exchanged between: HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tehran; the India Office; the Foreign Office. The correspondence concerns the need for clear and regular despatches from Tehran on commercial relations between Soviet Russia and Persia. This part of the file contains a memorandum entitled ‘Effects of the Persian Trade Monopoly Laws and the Perso-Soviet Treaty upon Soviet commercial penetration in Persia’ (ff 34-40). The memorandum is undated and its author not stated. However, it bears annotations made by George Edmund Crombie of the India Office, which are dated 3 March 1933.The third part of the file (ff 2-22) contains a letter dated 15 December 1926 enclosing two notes (also 1926) written by Reginald Teague-Jones. The notes were forwarded, in 1945, by John Walter Hose, formerly of the India Office, to Roland Tennyson Peel of the India Office. The notes are entitled ‘Soviet Commercial Policy in Persia’ (ff 5-14) and ‘The Crucial Problem in Soviet Russia’ (ff 15-22). The accompanying letter (f 4) is signed under Teague-Jones’s pseudonym Ronald Sinclair.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 76; these numbers are written in pencil and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.

4. File 1032/1914 Pt 1-2 'PERSIA:- TRADE WITH PERSIAN GULF PORTS'

Description:

Abstract: This volume contains parts 1 and 2 of the subject 'Persia.'The volume concerns the Government of India's trade with ports in the Persian Gulf, and various rations and restrictions introduced during the First World War. Principal correspondents include the British Minister at Tehran, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and representatives of the Government of India, the India Office, and the Foreign Office. In addition to correspondence, both parts include copies of a memorandum by Herbert George Chick, Commercial Adviser to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, entitled 'Memorandum on Russian Commercial Pressure in Central and Northern Persia in Respect to the Tea Trade'.Both parts include a divider that gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in the part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 257; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.

5. File 1283/1913 Pt 1-2 ‘Persian Gulf: German Competition’

Description:

Abstract: The file is concerned with growing German competition to British trade in the Persian Gulf, and discussions around possible responses from the British authorities to protect Britain's trade and geopolitical interests. In particular, it is concerned with the joint workings of the Hamburg-America Line and Messrs R Wonckhaus and Company; British officials believe that the German firms are in receipt of subsidies from the German Government, which prevent British firms from competing with them on a commercial basis. Germany's new monopoly over the export of Belgium sugar from Antwerp to the Persian Gulf, her growing share of the export trade in barley and grain from Persia, and her inroads into the export trade from Manchester, being of particular concern to British planners.Much discussion in the file therefore centres on whether or not the British should introduce subsidies to assist British firms against their German counterparts. The principal firms discussed in the file are the British India Steam Navigation Company, Frank C Strick and Company, and various subsidiaries of Ellerman Lines. However, the file also covers the subject of lighterage (or lightering) across the Persian Gulf; this includes discussion over whether efforts should be made to facilitate the establishment of a British company to provide lighterage services across the Persian Gulf.The main correspondents are officials of the Board of Trade (mainly George J Stanley), the Foreign Office, the India Office, and the Government of India; along with significant input from the Persian Gulf Political Resident (Sir Percy Cox, John Gordon Lorimer, and Stuart George Knox), the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Edward Grey), the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, HM Minister at Tehran (Sir Walter Townley), HM Consul at Mohammerah (Lionel Haworth), HM Consul-General at Antwerp (Sir Cecil Hertslet), and Lord Inchcape (Kenneth Mackay).Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 336; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 3-333; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.