336 Sir Boverton Redwood [June 7, 



oil-fielas of Persia. The circumstances in which this important 

 acquisition, which is entitled to rank with Disraeli's purchase of the 

 Suez Canal shares, was rendered possible are worthy of being 

 recorded. Eighteen years ago, the late Mr. W. Knox D'Arcy obtained 

 from the Persian Government a concession for the exploitation of 

 petroleum over the whole of Persia, with the exception of the portion 

 bordering on the Caspian Sea. Successful drilling operations were 

 carried out at Kasr-i-Shirin, on the Turco-Persian frontier, and later 

 the work of development was concentrated in an area about 150 miles 

 from the port of Mohammerah, on the Persian Gulf. The results 

 obtained exceeded the most sanguine anticipations, but the financial 

 burden had become very great, pioneer work of this description in 

 such a country being exceptionally costly, and if Mr. D'Arcy had 

 subordinated his patriotism to his self-interest the concession would 

 have been lost k) this country, for at this juncture he received 

 tempting offers from Continental financiers, who were fully alive to 

 the vast importance of it. Supported by Lord Fisher, Mr. Pretyman, 

 the late Sir Gordon Miller and Sir Frederick Black, Mr. D'Arcy 

 declined to entertain in any form the seductive proposals made to 

 him, being determined that at whatever cost to himself the Persian 

 oil-fields should remain under British control, and in 1909, with the 

 powerful co-operation of the Burmah Oil Company and the late Lord 

 Strathcona, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was formed, with a 

 working capital of £1,200,000. During the succeeding four years 

 the Company carried out a comprehensive scheme of development, 

 under the able guidance of Mr. Charles Greenway, and with the help, 

 up to the time of his death, of Mr. C. W. Wallace. Drilhng was 

 actively continued, a pipe-line was laid from the oil-fields to A])adan, 

 on the Persian Gulf, where a refinery was erected, and a large amount 

 of geological exploratory work was done. All this involved a large 

 outlay of capital, and as the Comjmny's cash resources were l)ecoming 

 exhausted there was again a risk of the introduction of foreign 

 control. At this juncture Mr. Greenway was fortunate, with the 

 help of Sir Francis Hopwood (now Lord Southborongh), in inducing 

 Mr. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, to give 

 his personal attention to the position and prospects of the Couipany, 

 with the result that the British Government purchased a controlling 

 interest in the undertaking for the sum of £2,200,000, and nominated 

 two directors, Lord Inchcape and Admiral Slade, to serve on the 

 Board. This action was taken in the face of considerable opposition, 

 both in the House of Commons and outside, and statements were 

 freely made that the Government had made a disastrous bargain, but 

 at the last Annual General Meeting of the Company Mr. Greenway 

 had the gratification of being a])le to announce that the profits had 

 already become so large that if the Government wished to dispose of 

 their holding he was prepared to find purchase^-s for it for not less 

 than six million pounds sterling, and perhaps eight million. Of the 



