IOR/R/15/1/613

The volume contains correspondence, memorandums, maps and newspaper cuttings relating to a proposed Baghdad to Basra railway, an extension of the German Berlin to Baghdad Railway. Correspondents include: Percy Cox, Political Resident at Bushire, William Shakespear, Political Agent at Kuwait, Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Francis Bertie, British Ambassador to France, Louis Mallet, Assistant Under-secretary of State for Near and Middle Eastern Affairs, Arthur Nicolson, Permanent Under-secretary for Foreign Affairs, Gerard Lowther, British Ambassador to Constantinople, George Buchanan, British Ambassador to Russia, Edward Goschen, British Ambassador to Berlin, the Board of Trade, William Graham Greene, Permanent Secretary to the Board of Admiralty, the Government of India, the India Office, and Sheikh Mubarak of Kuwait.

The volume covers the discussion over various matters, with numerous draft conventions and agreements sent back and forth between the various governmental offices and departments. Documents relating to Cox's successful attempts to obtain the acceptance of the agreement from Sheikh Khazal of Mohammerah and Sheikh Mubarak of Kuwait are also included. The issues discussed as matters for agreement with Turkey include:

• the status of Kuwait, including territorial limits and relations with Britain and Ottoman Turkey;
• the conservancy of the Shatt al-Arab, including the establishment of a Navigation Commission;
• the ownership and control of the Baghdad Railway and the question of its extension beyond Basra;
• the boundary between Turkish Arabia and Persia;
• other Persian Gulf matters such as Turkish power and influence in Katr [Qatar] and Bahrain.

Other subjects that feature are Sheikh Mubarak's temporary illness, and reports of the dispatch of Turkish troops to Qatar, contrary to agreements.