Registry No. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRUCIAL COAST. ACIS Top Secret. Secret. Confidential. Restricted. Open. Draft. Submission £10,000 was allotted for development work in the Trucial states in the financial year 1953/54. £2,000 remains uncommitted. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has allotted £go,000 for the development of water supplies in the Trucial states in the financial year 1954/55. If this is all spent on water (of as we hope it will be) we shall need another £5,000 for other development work, e.g. a hospital and the improvement of creeks. Mr. Minshull has put the figure £25,000 in our estimates, but the Treasury want details of our proposed expenditure, wyeully. 2. In his telegrams Nos. 1045 and 75 Saving, Mr. Burrows gives the necessary details, but the question becomes tied up with that of rewarding Shaikh Zaid for his staunchness. Mr. Burrows also proposes to spend some of the money, either on improving creeks or in presenting a grader to the Trucial Council. I am doubtful whether it is wise to submit an "either ... or" proposal to the Treasury and I think it would be better to wait until Mr. Burrows has received the expected report on the creeks and is able NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN to make a firm recommendation. 3. We must therefore telegraph to Mr. Burrows on these two points. 4. As regards Shaikh Zaid, Mr. Minshull says that the Treasury will not hear of our giving him personally the £4,000 necessary for improving the water supply to his lands in the Buraimi area, which is what Mr. Burrows wishes to do on both political and economic grounds. /This 51--4800
