IOR/L/PS/10/127

The volume concerns the disputed concession for the mining of red oxide on the island of Abu Musa [Abū Mūsá].

The main correspondents are senior officials of the Foreign Office and the India Office; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Major Percy Zachariah Cox); and the Viceroy. The papers cover discussion of territorial rights over the island; the claims of the German firm Robert Wönckhaus & Company to be allowed to mine red oxide there; representations on behalf of Robert Wönckhaus & Company from the German Government; claims for profits from the concession; reported German attempts to obtain Turkish intervention in the question, March 1908; and Foreign Office agreement that Wönckhaus should be allowed to fulfil their contracts, May 1908.

There are also copies of papers (folios 89-226) documenting the history of mining rights on the island, dated 1883-1907, including correspondence from two of the holders of the mining concession, Haji Hassan bin Ali Samaiyeh and Esa bin Abdul Latif [‘Īsá bin ‘Abd al-Laṭīf], son of the Residency Agent, Shargah [Sharjah]; Shaikh Salim bin Sultan [Sālim bin Sulṭān Āl Qāsimī], the owner of the mines; Shaikh Sagar bin Khalid [Ṣaqr bin Khālid Āl Qasimī], Ruler of Sharjah; and Abdul Latif, the Residency Agent, Sharjah. These are accompanied by copies of agreements; and witness statements concerning the turning away of a German dhow from Abu Musa on 23 October 1907. The correspondence is in the form of English translations, followed in most cases by copies of the Arabic originals.

There is a small amount (under five folios) of diplomatic correspondence in French.

Each part includes a divider, which gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.