IOR/R/15/1/487

This file contains correspondence between British officials regarding date gardens in southern Iraq owned by the rulers of Mohammerah and Kuwait. The correspondence discusses changes in legislation proposed by the Government of Iraq regarding the collection of land rent and land produce duties, and the impact of these proposed changes on the Ruler of Kuwait (Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ). Copies of this legislation are contained in the file on folios 30-52.

Correspondence in the file explains that in November 1914, the British authorities had given a letter to the shaikhs of Mohammerah and Kuwait promising them perpetual exemption from taxation on their date gardens in Iraq in return for their assistance against the Ottoman Empire (f 177). Much of the correspondence in the file discusses whether or not this assurance previously given to the Shaikh can be upheld and how the British should react to the Iraqi Government's desire to tax the produce that is grown on Shaikh Ahmad's land and then exported to Kuwait. The broader regional implications of the issue are also discussed at length.

The file also contains details regarding a legal case brought against Shaikh Ahmad by members of the Al Zuhair family regarding the ownership of some of his date gardens in Iraq.