IOR/L/PS/12/3802

The file concerns the drafting of a convention to establish a Conservancy Board for the Shatt-el-Arab (also referred to as the Shatt-al-Arab).

The papers include: negotiations with the governments of Iraq and Persia [Iran]; the involvement of British shipowners in discussions; numerous drafts of the convention; the selection of Colonel John Ward, Port Director of the Port of Basrah [Basra], as British appointee to the Board (folio 450); the question of dues on shipping; comments by the Admiralty; involvement of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC); budget estimates for the Port of Basra; printed Port of Basra 'Schedule of Dues and Charges', 1935 (folios 244-272); papers on customs, quarantine, and police arrangements for the Shatt-al-Arab; Perso-Iraqi frontier negotiations; memorandum of instructions for the guidance of the British representatives in the negotiations for the conclusion of the convention, 1935 (folios 66-78); the proposed convention (folios 51-60); Ministry of Health paper on the transfer of quarantine arrangements in the Shatt-al-Arab to the Conservancy Board; and the agreement of the Iraqi Government to British participation in the convention (folios 6-9).

The principal correspondents are the Foreign Office, HM Ambassador at Bagdad, HM Minister at Tehran, and the Mercantile Marine Department, Board of Trade.

The French language content of the file consists of a single item of correspondence (folio 132).

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