Abstract: This volume primarily concerns British policy regarding the eastern and south-eastern boundaries of Saudi Arabia, specifically those bordering Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Muscat (i.e. the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman). Much of the correspondence relates to British concerns that oil companies operating in the region may begin prospecting in disputed territory.References are made to various existing and proposed lines, including the 'blue line' (laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman convention of the following year). Reference is also made to a 'final offer' proposed by the British to the Saudi Government in November 1935, since which time no conclusion has been reached.Matters discussed in the correspondence include:The reported activity of the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) near Qasr-es-Salwa [Salwá, Saudi Arabia] (located east of the blue line), and whether this activity necessitates a renewed effort by the British to reach a settlement with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] regarding the Qatar-Saudi boundary.Ibn Saud's claim to Jebel Nakhsh [Khashm an Nakhsh, Qatar], which lies in territory included in the Qatar oil concession.Whether the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi should be persuaded to cede Khor-el-Odeid [Khawr al ‘Udayd] to Ibn Saud.The impact of Britain's Palestine policy on Anglo-Saudi relations.The Foreign Office's suggestion that the Khor-el-Odeid question should be submitted to arbitration.In addition to correspondence dating from 1937-39, the volume contains copies of correspondence dating from April 1904 (including translations of two letters from the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi), which discusses Abu Dhabi's claim to Khor-el-Odeid.Correspondents include the following: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the Political Agent, Bahrain (Captain Tom Hickinbotham); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, Viscount Halifax); the Secretary of State for India and Burma (Lawrence John Lumley Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland); the Viceroy of India (Victor Alexander John Hope, Lord Linlithgow); the Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office, and the Government of India's External Affairs Department.Also included are the following: copies of the minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, dated 8 November 1937 and 8 February 1938; a sketch map depicting the various possible boundary lines of south-eastern Saudi Arabia.The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 2).Physical description: Foliation: this file consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the front cover of volume one (ff 1-188) and terminates at the inside back cover of volume two (ff 189-395); 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 2-394; these numbers are printed, and are not circled.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This volume concerns relations between the British Government and Imam Yehia bin Muhammad Hamid Uddin [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen]. It documents (from a British perspective) the progress of treaty negotiations between Britain and Yemen. Much of the correspondence discusses the terms of the proposed treaty between Britain and Yemen, including a contested third article from a draft treaty proposed by the Imam, which relates both to the southern frontier of Yemen and to the Imam's claim to a number of unspecified islands situated in the Red Sea (referred to as 'the Islands of Yemen' in the Imam's draft treaty).Other items of discussion related to the proposed treaty include:Whether India should be a separate signatory of the proposed treaty.Whether the Imam is likely to consent to the establishment of special tribunals for the practice of a privileged code of law for foreign nationals in Yemen.The British precondition that, prior to the treaty being signed, the Imam must remove all restrictions on overland trade between Yemen and the Aden Protectorate, as well as surrender the territories and subjects of those chiefs who are in treaty relations with the British.The possibility of the appointment of a permanent British representative at San'a.The volume's main correspondents are the following: the Political Resident and Commander-in-Chief (later referred to as the Chief Commissioner) at Aden (Bernard Rawdon Reilly and his Acting Resident, Reginald Stuart Champion), the Imam of Yemen, the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Philip Cunliffe-Lister), and officials of the India Office, the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, and the War Office respectively.In addition to correspondence, the volume also includes the following:Copies of minutes from meetings of the Imperial Defence Committee's Standing Official Sub-Committee for questions concerning the Middle East, which discuss the proposed treaty with Yemen.A copy of a report of an eighteen-day British medical mission (comprised of two doctors, two nurses, and Lieutenant-Colonel Morice Challoner Lake) to Taiz [Ta‘izz] in late 1931 and early 1932, which was undertaken for the purpose of treating the daughter-in-law of Seyyid 'Ali of Taiz, son-in-law of the Imam.A copy of a report of Lake's subsequent visit to San'a in January 1932, which recounts in detail his conversations with the Imam.Copies of both a draft treaty and a 'retabulated' draft treaty, drafted by the British in response to the Imam's initial draft treaty.Copies of political intelligence summaries from the Aden Residency.The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 358; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The front and back covers, along with the two leading and two ending flyleaves have not been foliated. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 315-358; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This volume concerns relations between the British Government and Imam Yehia bin Muhammad Hamid Uddin [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen]. Much of the correspondence discusses the progress of treaty negotiations between the British Government and the Imam (a treaty was eventually signed on 11 February 1934). The principal correspondents are the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Philip Cunliffe-Lister), the Political Resident at Aden (Bernard Rawdon Reilly – also referred to as the Chief Commissioner at Aden – and, in Reilly's absence, the Acting Political Resident, Reginald Stuart Champion), the British Ambassador to Italy (Ronald William Graham, succeeded by Sir James Eric Drummond), His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert), the Imam of Yemen, and various officials of the India Office, the Colonial Office, and the Foreign Office.Matters discussed in the correspondence include:Whether the Government of India should be included as a signatory of the proposed treaty.Reports of Yemeni incursions (referred to as 'tax raids' – armed incursions made with a view to collecting taxes on behalf of the Imam) into the Subeihi district of the Aden Protectorate.An ultimatum, issued by the British Government to the Imam, requesting the withdrawal of forces and the return of hostages, with a threat of aerial bombardment in the event of the Imam's non-compliance.Concerns that any action taken by the British against the Imam might be interpreted both by Italy and by Saudi Arabia as encouraging Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] in his dispute with the Imam.Details of the precise terms of the proposed treaty, and of the Political Resident's mission to San'a for the resumption of treaty negotiations with the Imam.The British precondition that, prior to the treaty being signed, the Imam must remove all restrictions on overland trade between Yemen and the Aden Protectorate, as well as surrender the territories and subjects of those chiefs who are in treaty relations with the British.Arrangements for the ratification of the treaty.An enquiry from the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society, regarding whether the proposed treaty will include an article committing the Imam to taking action against slavery.In addition to correspondence, the volume includes the following:Copies of minutes from meetings of the Imperial Defence Committee's Standing Official Sub-Committee for questions concerning the Middle East, which discuss Britain's relations with the Imam.Extracts from the Aden Political Residency's political intelligence summaries.A map of the Aden Protectorate.The French material in this volume consists of one telegram. All of the material in this volume covers the period 1933-1934, with the exception of the aforementioned map of the Aden Protectorate, which is dated 1930.The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 367; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the four leading and ending flyleaves.An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 49-367; these numbers are also written in pencil and are circled, but are crossed through.
Abstract: This volume concerns the British Government's response to the presence of anti-Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] rebels in northern part of the Hejaz during May-July 1932, reportedly led by Sheikh Hamid Ibn Rafadah [Shaikh Hamid Ibn Rifadah].The volume mostly consists of copies of Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence (a large amount of which has been forwarded by the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East) discussing the following:Reports of an anti-Ibn Saud movement, allegedly organised by a society named Hizb-Al-Hejazi, based in Cairo, with additional members in Transjordan and Mecca.Reports of rebels from the Hejaz entering Transjordan.The decision taken by the British Government to send HMS
Penzanceto Akaba [Aqaba], in the hope that it will have a 'restraining effect' if anti-Ibn Saud rebels retreat through Akaba.Rumours that the Egyptian Government is lending assistance to the movement.Suspicions that Amir Abdullah [ʿAbdullāh bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] could be assisting the revolt.The possibility of closing the Transjordan frontier.Reports of an alleged plot to assassinate Emir Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] during his forthcoming visit to Iraq.Measures taken by the Egyptian Government to prevent supplies and munitions from being sent by sea to rebels in the Hejaz.British concerns over the timing of the proposed visit of King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] to Transjordan.Whether the British should make attempts to persuade Amir Abdullah to conclude a treaty of friendship with Ibn Saud.The volume features the following principal correspondents: the High Commissioner for Egypt (Sir Percy Loraine); the High Commissioner for Transjordan (Arthur Grenfell Wauchope); the High Commissioner for Iraq (Francis Henry Humphrys); the British Resident, Transjordan (Charles Henry Fortnom Cox); His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires to Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill); the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Philip Cunliffe-Lister); the Senior Officer of the Red Sea Sloops; officials of the Foreign Office and Colonial Office.In addition to correspondence the volume contains a copy of the minutes of a meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, dated 9 June 1932.The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 465; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the four leading and ending flyleaves.
Abstract: This volume largely consists of copies of Foreign Office correspondence (forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India) regarding reported raids on the frontier between Transjordan and the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia). Most of this correspondence consists of copies of letters and telegrams between the Foreign Office and the British Minister at Jedda, Sir Andrew Ryan, as well as translated copies of correspondence between Ryan and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia). The volume also contains India Office correspondence with the Foreign Office and Air Ministry.The correspondence is chiefly concerned with reported raids carried out on the Transjordan frontier by tribes from Nejd and Transjordan. Much of the Foreign Office correspondence discusses the efforts of the British to arrange a meeting between Captain John Bagot Glubb (recently appointed as British Intelligence Officer attached to the Transjordan Bedouin Control Board) and his counterpart, Abdul Aziz Ibn Zeid [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin Zeid], in order to resolve respective claims regarding raids from August 1930 to February 1931, and to make arrangements for the future intercommunication of information.Also discussed are the following:An alleged crossing into Hejazi-Nejdi territory by British aircraft and cars from Transjordan.A proposed extradition treaty between Transjordan and the Kingdom of the Hejaz and Nejd.Reports of meetings between Glubb and Abdul Aziz Ibn Zeid.The question of nationality in relation to certain tribes on the Transjordan and Hejaz-Nejd frontier (namely the Beni Atiya [Banū ʿAṭiyya] and the Atun, which Ryan describes as being a section of the Howeitat [Banū al- Ḥuwayṭāt]).In addition to correspondence the volume contains copies of minutes from meetings in early 1931 of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for questions concerning the Middle East, which discuss possible measures (such as the withdrawal of the British Minister at Jedda) that the British could take in the event of Ibn Saud returning 'an unsatisfactory answer' to British demands relating to the situation on the Transjordan and Hejaz-Nejd frontier. Also included are copies of memoranda from Glubb, one of which responds to complaints made against him by the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Hejaz and Nejd.Other correspondents besides those already mentioned include the Secretary of State for Colonies, the Colonial Office, the High Commissioner for Transjordan (Sir John Robert Chancellor, succeeded by Arthur Grenfell Wauchope), the British Resident at Transjordan (Charles Henry Fortnom Cox), and His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda (Cecil Gervase Hope Gill).The volume includes three dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 780; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.
Abstract: This file primarily concerns British policy on the question of the Saudi-Transjordan frontier, specifically the frontier between Transjordan and Nejd, as initially outlined in the Hadda Agreement of 1925.The correspondence includes discussion of the following:The reported disaffection of certain Saudi tribes in the Jauf [Al Jawf] and Teima [Taymā’] areas.Difficulties arising from inaccuracies discovered on a 1918 map of the frontier, on which the Hadda agreement was based.Saudi Government complaints regarding the alleged violation of the Saudi frontier by British aeroplanes and soldiers at Thaniyya Taraif [Thanīyat Ţurayf, Saudi Arabia].A proposal made by Fuad Bey Hamza, Deputy Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs, during a meeting at the Foreign Office in July 1935, that the frontier should be that which is shown on the 1918 map, regardless of the map's inaccuracies (a proposal that the British authorities in Transjordan encourage the Foreign Office to accept).Reports of infringements of the existing frontier by Saudi patrols.The British response to Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] claim to the districts of Akaba [Aqaba] and Maan [Ma‘ān] in Transjordan.The file also includes the following:Compiled notes of correspondence relating to the Treaty of Jedda (1927) and its modification (and more specifically, to the question of the Hejaz-Transjordan frontier) exchanged between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud (1927), and between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs (1936).Copies of the minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, concerning the Saudi-Transjordan frontier (and, in one instance, also addressing the Island of Tamb in the Persian Gulf).Copies of the minutes of interdepartmental meetings regarding the Saudi-Transjordan frontier, held at the Colonial Office (7 January 1935) and Foreign Office (28 September 1934) respectively.Two sketch maps depicting disputed territory near the frontier.The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard); His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires to Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); John Bagot Glubb, Acting Officer Commanding the Arab Legion; the Air Officer Commanding Palestine and Transjordan (Richard Edmund Charles Peirse); the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Air Ministry, and the War Office.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 (folio 2).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 213; 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 2-209; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This file relates to Italian activities in the Middle East, particularly in the Yemen. The correspondence includes discussion of the following:British policy in the event of the Italians occupying Sheikh Said [Ra’s Shaykh Sa‘īd], or any other part of the Yemen.The Yemen's position in the Italo-Abyssinian conflict [Italo-Ethiopian War].Relations between Ethiopia and the Yemen.Italian activities in the Yemen.British suspicions regarding Italian activities in the Yemen.Future British policy in the Yemen.Internal affairs in the Yemen.Anglo-Italian relations in the Middle East, and the likelihood of Italy violating the Rome Understanding of 1927.Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] view on Italian activity in the region.The visits of Italian destroyers to Kamaran Island in March 1937 and January 1938.British and French concerns that Italy, following its denunciation of the Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, seeks possession of the Island of Doumeira [Dumēra Desēt, Red Sea, also spelled Dumeira in the file], currently under French control.The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard); the Political Resident, Aden (Sir Bernard Rawdon Reilly); the Governor of Aden (Reilly again); the High Commissioner, Cairo (Sir Miles Lampson); His Majesty's Ambassador in Cairo (Lampson again); His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, Alexandria (John Cecil Sterndale Bennett); His Majesty's Ambassador in Paris (Eric Phipps); His Majesty's Ambassador in Rome (Eric Drummond); the British Consul General, Jibuti [Djibouti] (Herbert George Jakins); the British Naval Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station (Vice-Admiral Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Anthony Eden); the Secretary of State for the Colonies (James Henry Thomas, succeeded by William George Arthur Ormsby-Gore); officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, and the Air Ministry.In addition to correspondence, the file includes the following: copies of extracts from Aden political intelligence summaries; copies of the minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, dated 26 November 1935, 14 December 1936, and 8 June 1937 respectively; a copy of a translation of a treaty of friendship and commerce between the Ethiopian and Yemeni governments, which was ratified on 21 September 1935.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 (folios 2).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 349; 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.
Abstract: This volume relates to the eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia and the southern boundary of Qatar.Much of the correspondence discusses the legal and international position of what is referred to as the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, as laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman convention of the following year), which is regarded by the British as the eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia, but is disputed by the Saudi Government, mainly on the grounds that it is no longer correct, following various developments during the years since the line was demarcated.British concerns regarding these boundaries follow a recent oil concession for the Hasa [Al Hasa] region of Saudi Arabia, granted by the Saudi Government to the Standard Oil Company of California, as well as reports of the possibility of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company securing an oil concession in Qatar.Related matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:The British policy regarding the blue line.The views of India Office and Foreign Office officials, as well as other British officials (most notably Sir Percy Zachariah Cox, former Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, Political Agent at Kuwait), regarding the demarcation of the southern boundary of Qatar.British concerns regarding the land lying between the blue line and the southern boundary of Qatar, as recognised by the Sheikh of Qatar [Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī].A request for a copy of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention, submitted by the United States Embassy in Angora [Ankara] – reportedly on behalf of the United States' State Department – to its British counterpart, and the wider significance of this request in relation to the United States' oil interests in the region.Foreign Office concerns that aerial survey work carried out by the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc) in relation to its Hasa oil concession might extend beyond the blue line.The volume features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); the Political Agent, Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson); the Secretary of State for India (Samuel Hoare); the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India; the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs; officials of the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Admiralty, and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department.In addition to correspondence, the volume includes extracts from Bahrain political intelligence reports and minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, which concern the Qatar boundary.Whilst the volume contains material dating from 1923 to 1934, the vast majority of the material dates from 1934. The French material consists of a short extract from the aforementioned Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, which is contained in copies of an India Office memorandum on the southern boundary of Qatar.The volume includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folios 3-4).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 374; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The front and back covers have not been foliated.
Abstract: The volume contains correspondence, reports and minutes regarding road and rail transport through Iraq, Trans-Jordan [Jordan], Palestine, Syria and Iran. The following topics are discussed in detail:The proposed construction of a Baghdad-Haifa rail route. The file also includes records regarding the planned transfer of the Iraqi Government Railway from British to Iraqi control.Transport developments and trade routes in Syria, and economic competition between French- and British- mandated territories in the region.Proposals for the development of free zones at the port in Haifa, for Iraqi and Persian [Iranian] goods. This includes discussion of customs dues, and facilities to be offered to foreign governments.Proposals by Haim Effendi Nathaniel, the Iraqi Railways Canvassing Agent, for facilities to assist in the development of a trans-desert motor route between Iraq and Palestine, and the right to carry Iraqi mails via the Amman ['Ammān] route.Customs and Trade Agreements between French-mandated territories and Iran.The principal authors and correspondents are: HM High Commissioner for Palestine; HM High Commissioner for Iraq; the Foreign Office Eastern Department; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; HM Minister at Tehran; and the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East. The volume also contains a small number of communications received from the Government of Iraq.The volume contains the following items of note:Minutes of a meeting between the Iraqi Treasurer and Haim Effendi Nathaniel, regarding the Baghdad-Haifa Desert Motor Route, held on the 18 January 1933, ff 425-428.Records of a meeting between the Treasurer, the Iraqi Delegation, and the Director of Customs at Palestine, regarding the proposed free zone facilities at Haifa for Iraqi goods, and the establishment of terminal facilities and a preferential tariff, ff 371-392.Draft minutes of a meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, held Monday 17 July 1933, regarding: 1) the proposed pipeline from the British Oil Development Company's concession near Mosul to the Mediterranean, and 2) the Trans-Desert Railway from Baghdad to Haifa. Plus related despatches received from Baghdad, Aleppo and Beirut, notes on the strategic value of the Baghdad-Haifa railway by the Secretaries of State for Air and War, ff 326-357.Communication from the High Commissioner for Iraq (Francis Henry Humphrys) to the Foreign Secretary (John Simon), summarising the development of road and rail transport routes between Iraq, Syria and Palestine from 1925-1934, ff 247-249.English translation of the Decree of the French High Commissioner in Syria, 'Governing the Regime of Customs Exemptions granted to Transdesert Transport Concerns maintaining regular services of the transport of international transport goods', ff 222-236.Minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, held 11 and 23 October 1934, regarding the proposed Baghdad-Haifa route, ff 139-177, 90-107, and 70-89.Memorandum on the Baghdad-Damascus desert route, prepared by the Commercial Secretary to the Baghdad Embassy, 1935, ff 5-10.The volume also contains a proposal by the Palestine Corporation Limited to construct a highway connecting Palestine and Iraq, found at folios 14-30. This proposal is discussed in depth in the second part of the file, IOR/L/PS/12/2852.The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 1).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 526; these numbers are written in pencil, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and ending flyleaves. A previous foliation sequence has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: This volume concerns relations between the British Government and Imam Yehia bin Muhammad Hamid Uddin [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Imam of Yemen]. It largely consists of correspondence between the Political Resident at Aden (Sir George Stewart Symes, succeeded by Bernard Rawdon Reilly) and officials of the India Office, the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office. Also included are copies of correspondence between the Political Resident and the Imam.The correspondence includes the following subject matter:The Imam's wish to conclude a treaty between Yemen and Britain, and British objections to some of the Imam's terms for a proposed treaty, such as the Imam's demand for the recognition of his sovereignty over the tribes of the Aden Protectorate.The Imam's refusal to accept the boundaries of the Aden Protectorate, as laid down between Britain and the Ottoman Empire before the First World War.The possibility of sending a British official representative to visit the Imam, with the objective of establishing a 'clearer understanding of each other's policy and aims'.Discussion as to how the British should respond to reports that the Imam's troops have occupied Al 'Ain [Am ‘Ayn] (a group of villages in the Wadi Beihan [Wādī Bayḩān] region, deemed by the British to be part of the Aden Protectorate), with a threat of aerial bombardment being among the considered options.Discussion of matters that the British may wish to raise in treaty negotiations with the Imam, including the evacuation of the Imam's troops from the districts of Audhali and Sanah [Sanāh, near Qa‘ţabah], and the Sultan of Upper Yafa's claim to Rube'aten.Also included in the volume are the following:Copies of the Aden Residency's Political Intelligence Summaries.Minutes from meetings of the Imperial Defence Committee's Standing Official Sub-Committee for questions concerning the Middle East, which discuss British relations with Yemen.A copy of a report by Lieutenant-Colonel Morice Challoner Lake recounting his visit to the Wadi Beihan in March 1931.A copy of a translation of the Imam of Yemen's proposed terms for a treaty between Britain and Yemen, and several copies of a corresponding British counter draft treaty.Copies of memoranda from Air Ministry and War Office representatives.Five maps showing disputed territory.The French material in the volume consists of one letter. Most of the material in this volume covers the period 1931-1932; however, the volume also includes several maps dating from an earlier period, of which the earliest is dated 1906.The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this volume commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 383; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The front and back covers, along with the two leading and two ending flyleaves have not been foliated. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 253-382 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.