IOR/R/15/2/610

The file contains correspondence relating to the presentation of gifts by the Political Agent at Bahrain to Saleh al Mana, representative of the Shaikh of Qatar. The gifts are an appreciation of the hospitality provided by Saleh al Mana during the Political Agent’s visits to Qatar. Correspondents in the file include the Political Agent at Bahrain (Cornelius James Pelly, and Gordon Noel Jackson between August and November 1947), Saleh al Mana [Ṣāliḥ Āl Māni‘], and the Manager of Petroleum Concessions (Qatar) Limited, Basil Henry le Riolet Lermitte, who frequently acted as an intermediary between the Political Agent and Saleh al Mana.

Correspondence relates to:

• the delivery of a radio set to Saleh al Mana in 1947 (ff 2-21), and further correspondence resulting from the radio not working and requiring replacement. Saleh al Mana’s attempt, in October 1947, to arrange the purchase of his own radio set through Lermitte, in contravention of restrictions on Petroleum Concessions Limited buying products from Bahrain for non-Company Qataris, is brought to the attention of the Political Agent by Lermitte (f 14);
• in September 1948, two letters from the Political Agent to Saleh al Mana, the first returning a set of pearls given to the Political Resident Sir William Rupert Hay’s daughter by the Shaikh of Qatar, owing to the fact that the Political Resident was not permitted to accept gifts; the second presenting Saleh al Mana with an automatic pistol (ff 22-26);
• between October 1948 and September 1949, correspondence relating to the incorrect ammunition that was supplied with the pistol given to Saleh al Mana, and the Political Agent’s arrangements for the correct ammunition to be purchased, imported and sent on to Saleh al Mana (ff 27-41).