ملف [٤/١٠] العلاقات البريطانية مع ابن سعود: أنشطة فيصل الدويش [و‎‎١‎١] (٥٢٤/٢١)

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frontier and the Calcutta Babu.
12. as regards (b) the Blooxade. Bight years ago the
Customs reoeiyts for the port of gu^ait amounted to over A 6
laos per annum, this with an uniform charge of 4 ^ ad valorem
oustom cUty e foday these have dropped to di la laos, and Kuwait
is on the verge of ruin, with empty bazaars and shops, and an
air of desolation everywhere. Yhat has saved the town from
going under altogether, has been the pearl trade, though this
is far from being in a healthy condition.
Bin Baud's polioy of BlooKade, a seemingly cruel and unnecessary
aot, which Kuwait has been too weak to resist has been and is
the oause of this state of affairs,
lb. The story is as follows
After his suooess at Bahrain, when Bin Baud won his
victory seven years ago in the matter of transit dues, he turn
ed his attention to Kuwait, and in the reign of the present
Euler wrote him a letter and pointed out that he was in need
of more money and had decided it was time to tax goods going
into Nejd from Kuwait. He therefore proposed to the Euler
three alternatives to enable aim to accomplish this end.
These were
eitner (a) that a custom official of his be allowed
to open an office at the exit gate of
the city and collect revenue from cara
vans leaving for Nsjd (whether tribal
or "Hathar")
or (b)tha t Shaikh Ahmad should appoint such
official, and sena the taxings to Risth.
or (o)ti^t Shaikh Ahmad should send him Bin
Baud a lump sum annually, equivalent to
what was considered a fair revenue
(sum not fixed).
14. shaikh Ahmad declined to entertain any of the three
above alternatives on the grounds that in the eyes of the Arab
world, it would be tantamount of his becoming a "vassal" of
Bin Bauds. He maintained the attitude that Bin Baud snoula
adopt the ordinary metaoas as understood by the nations of
world ana place Customs posts on the frontier line. He there—