IOR/R/15/1/501

This file contains correspondence between British officials regarding date gardens in southern Iraq owned by Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ, the ruler of Kuwait. In particular, the correspondence concerns the Government of Iraq's decision to end the immunity from taxation (on the gardens) that had been granted by the British Government to the former ruler of Kuwait, Shaikh Mubārak Āl Ṣabāḥ in return for his military support against the Ottoman Empire in World War 1.

The file contains translations of correspondence between Shaikh Aḥmad and his son (and representative in Iraq) Shaikh Mohamed [Muḥammad] as well as correspondence between British officials and the Iraqi government regarding the ongoing legal dispute concerning ownership of the gardens.

The file contains a letter (ff. 7-13) from Charles Geoffrey Prior, the British Political Resident in the Persian Gulf to Shaikh Aḥmad which includes details of the British government's settlement offer to him as compensation for loss of earnings since the Iraqi government ended his immunity from taxation in 1932. The letter asks for him to a sign a form that formally discharges the British government from liability for taxation losses and contains a draft copy of such a form.

The file also contains correspondence about a forthcoming change in the Iraqi land settlement law concerning the ownership of land by foreigners as well as correspondence regarding a court summons issued by Iraq against a number of members of the Al Sabah family including Shaikh Aḥmad (ff. 89-91).