IOR/R/15/2/750

The file contains copies of correspondence and other papers relating to the introduction and application of Defence Regulation No. 2 of 1942, issued under the Persian Gulf States (Emergency) Order in Council (1939). The Regulation stipulated that British subjects employed at the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) and Petroleum Concessions Limited (PCL), whose operations were considered essential to the war effort, could not leave their post without the permission of the Political Agent at Bahrain. The file is a direct chronological continuation of ‘File 28/57 II Volunteers for national service’ (IOR/R/15/2/749). The principal correspondents in the file are: the (officiating) Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel William Rupert Hay); the Political Agent at Bahrain (Edward Birkbeck Wakefield); the Chief Local Representative of BAPCO (Milton H Lipp; Ward P Anderson).

The file includes:

• copies of correspondence dated November 1941, relating to the introduction of a regulation under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act (1939-1940) in Persia [Iran], prohibiting employees of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and Imperial Bank from leaving their jobs without prior official consent (ff 3-13);
• copies of correspondence, papers, and file notes, dated from March 1942, detailing discussion between the Political Resident, Government of India officials, Political Agent at Bahrain, and BAPCO and PCL representatives, over the drafting and implementation of an emergency regulation to be made under the Persian Gulf States (Emergency) Order in Council (1939). The correspondence discusses: the applicability of the regulation to Indian as well as ‘British-European’ employees; the allocation of leave to Indian employees; opposition of BAPCO and PCL to conscription; employees’ likely response to the Regulation; questions of jurisdiction over Canadian and United States employees; punishment of offenders under the regulation; copies of Defence Regulation No. 2 of 1942, dated 7 May 1942 (ff 102-103, ff 117-118); letters to the managers of BAPCO, PCL and Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited (PDQ), all dated 8 May 1942, informing them of the implementation of the Defence Regulation (ff 104-112);
• correspondence concerning shortages of staff at BAPCO, including lists of staff whose contracts have expired or have resigned, roles required to be filled, and efforts to recruit employees from the Burmah Oil Company and from Caltex (Africa) Limited, in South Africa;
• correspondence relating to individual BAPCO employees, either applying for temporary leave, including compassionate leave, and reassignment. The correspondence includes: applications for leave; assessments of the individuals’ importance to operations; employment records; correspondence relating to the granting of exit permits by the Political Agent; notices informing employees due to depart Bahrain on leave of their duty to return to Bahrain after their leave has completed, or face arrest and conviction under the Defence Regulation (f 155);
• notes and correspondence dated from March 1942 relating to the increased cost of living in Bahrain, due to the rising costs of foodstuffs, and the possibility of granting additional allowances to Indian BAPCO employees (ff 56-60, ff 68-71).