IOR/L/PS/12/2066

This volume consists largely of copies of Foreign Office correspondence (forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India) regarding relations between Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] and Kuwait. In addition, the volume contains copies of India Office correspondence with both the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office, as well as copies of correspondence between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Vincent Biscoe) and the Government of India's Foreign and Political Department.

The beginning of the volume concerns a request made by Ibn Saud to use the occasion of a meeting with King Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] of Iraq to open formal negotiations with the British regarding general questions relating to the Persian Gulf.

The British response is that a meeting of this kind, at such short notice, would not be possible; however, proposals are made for a meeting between Ibn Saud and the Political Resident at a later date. Such a meeting, it is suggested, could also be attended by the Ruler of Kuwait, Shaikh Ahmad al Jabir as Subah [Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ], for the purpose of discussing Nejd-Kuwait relations. Much of the correspondence discusses the efforts made by the British to arrange the proposed meeting with Ibn Saud (which would eventually take place at Hasa in January 1932). The volume includes a report from Biscoe recounting his meetings with both Ibn Saud and his representative, which include the following subjects of discussion: the Kuwait blockade; passport facilities for persons from Nejd travelling to India or Iraq; the possibility of consular status being afforded to representatives of Nejd in Bahrain and Kuwait; the possibility of an extradition treaty between Bahrain and Nejd.

Also included in the volume are copies of letters and intelligence summaries from the Political Agent at Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson) to the Political Resident.

The volume's other prominent correspondents include the following: the British Consul (later His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires) at Jedda, (William Linskill Bond, succeeded by Cecil Gervase Hope Gill); the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); the Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd; also held in an acting capacity by Fuad Bey Hamza]; Ibn Saud; the Ruler of Kuwait.

The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.