IOR/L/PS/12/3903

The file concerns the supply of water to Kuwait (also referred to as Koweit), particularly in terms of Kuwait's dependence for water on Iraq.

The papers cover: delays to Kuwaiti water boats in the Shatt al Arab caused by Iraqi customs, which resulted in a water shortage in Kuwait, and complaints to the British authorities by the Ruler of Kuwait, 1936-37; the British view that Iraqi actions might have been influenced by Kuwaiti smuggling (folio 36); 'Note on the Drinking Water Available in Kuwait and the Immediate Vicinity' by the Political Agent, Kuwait (folios 26-27); correspondence from A. Beeby Thompson & Partners, Consulting Engineers, London, concerning a proposed hydrological survey of Kuwait, 1938; the proposal of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Trenchard Craven William Fowle) that the British Government should pay the cost of the survey; and the unwillingness, on strategic or political grounds, of the Foreign Office and other British Government departments to pay the cost of the survey, 1938-39.

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.