§ 39. Viscount SANDONasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that only 25 per cent. of the capital for working the newly-discovered Mosul oilfields will be British; and whether the Government will be willing for the control to pass out of British hands?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREThe composition of the Turkish Petroleum Company has already been made public. The convention between the company and the Iraq Government provides that the company shall be and remain a British company registered in Great Britain and having its principal place of business within His Majesty's Dominions, and that the chair-man shall at all times be a British subject.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODMay we take it from that, that, if a pipe line is laid to the Mediterranean, that pipe line will debouch on British territory at Haifa?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREThat does not arise from the question on the Paper.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODIf it is a British company, does it mean that the British Government can control the policy of that company?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREThe right hon. Gentleman is aware that that is a matter for the company primarily, and depends on what shares are held and the different proportions. I could not possibly give an answer to the question without very careful consideration.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODIs the British Government to have any control over this company similar to the control of the British Government over the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and will the British Government ultimately decide questions of policy?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GORENo, the position in regard to the Turkish Petroleum Company is wholly different from that of the Anglo-Persian Company. In the case of the Anglo-Persian Company, the 24 British Government has a share-control-ling interest; in the Turkish Petroleum Company the British Government has no such share-controlling interest.
§ Mr. HARRISDo the powers of a mandate given to the British Government under the League of Nations give our Government the right to insist that British trading companies shall be British controlled, or is it brought about by pressure?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GORENo. I do not think that question has ever arisen at Geneva. It is entirely a question of the composition of a concessionaire, the concessionaire being the Turkish Petroleum Company. Certain former shares in that company were held, I think, by the Deutsche Bank, and the matter is a question as to how those shares are distributed. They are distributed among many nations, partly to the United States—to the American group—partly to a French group, partly to Mr. Gulbekenian, partly to the Royal Dutch Shell, and partly to the Anglo-Persian Company.