IOR/R/15/5/78

This file contains correspondence, memoranda reports, telegrams and minutes, regarding the German and Japanese interest in shipping and trade in the Persian Gulf, particularly in Kuwait (also written in some parts of the file as Koweit).

The papers notably cover/include the following:

• The establishment of a passenger/trading service from Europe to the Persian Gulf by the steamship company, Hamburg Amerika [America] Line, and imports by the company’s Persian Gulf branch
• German and Japanese ships at Persian [Iranian] ports
• The interest of German firm Messrs Robert Wonckhaus and Company in Basra, and details of the Ruler of Kuwait having been approached by the same company
• Reports of German trade shipping and details of items purchased (e.g. Barley), reportedly at a loss
• A report of a broker selling firearms in Bahrein [Bahrain]
• Details relating to the Baghdad Railway
• The movements of German merchants in the Gulf during 1916
• The presence of a Japanese merchant, suspected to be an employee of the trading company Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, at ports in the Gulf
• The operations of Messrs Robert Wonckhaus and Company in Kuwait.

The volume comprises internal correspondence between British officials of different departments. The principal correspondents are: Stuart George Knox, Political Agent at Kuwait; and Sir Percy Cox, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire [Bushehr].