'Historical Summary of Events in Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Arabia affecting the British Position in the Persian Gulf, 1907-1928' [‎23r] (52/188)

43
MUSCAT: 1908-1928.
{Communicated by India Otjice and revised to 25th August 1928.)
—Administration.
Taimur bin Faisal bin Turki, K.O.LE,
(1926),
1. His Highness Saiyid
C.S.I. (1917), Sultan of Muscat and Oman, born in 1885, succeeded his
father, Sultan Saiyid Faisal-bin-Turki, G.C.I.E., who had ruled the Sultanate
since 1888, in 1913. He has three sons, of whom the eldest, Saiyid Said, is
being educated at an Arab school in Baghdad. His Highness, who is
entitled to a salute of 21 guns, represented his father at the Delhi Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). ,
1902-3, and visited England in the summer of 1928, when he was received
in audieuce by the King, and entertained as a State guest for a period ot"
a month.
2. The Sultan is an independent potentate who has commercial treaties
with the Governments of France (1814) and the United States (1833), as well
as with His Majesty's Government. There is iu addition a commercial
declaration of 1877 with the Dutch Government. Under the Anglo-French
declaration of 1862, His Majesty's Government and the French Government
engage reciprocally to respect the independence of the Sultan of Muscat (as
of the Sultan of Zanzibar). Under his treaty relations with His Majesty's
Government, a precis of which is contained in the memorandum printed as an
Appendix on page 1G8, the Sultan is pledged never to cede, sell, mortgage,
or otherwise give for occupation, bis dominions, save to His Majesty's
Government, to whom, in addition, the right to search and seize Muscat
ships suspected of carrying slaves was ceded in 1873, as was the right
(simultaneously ceded to Persia) to search Muscat vessels for arms in Muscat
waters in 1898. The right to search Muscat vessels for arms on the high
seas was ceded to His Majesty's Government and the Italian Government
in 1903. His Highness has further undertaken not to grant oil concessions
without the approval of His Majesty's Government. While, however, the
Sultan is in theory a wholly independent ruler, since the end of the eighteenth
century British influence has been predominant in Muscat, and in practice
the relations which obtain between its ruler and His Majesty's Government
and the Government of India voty closely approximate to those which obtain
between the Government of India and an Indian State under the suzerainty
of His Majesty.
3. The internal administration of Muscat is carried out by an Advisory
Council of Ministers (President, Minister of Finance, Minister of Religious
Affairs, Minister of Justice)/-'purely Arab with the exception noted below, * p. 937/24. •
presided over by His Highness's brother, Saiyid Nadir."f The Council, t Letter 163 s. from
which the §ultan was required to institute in 1920 as a condition of the of L '
assistance of His Majesty's Government in the reconstruction of his adminis- p P 2077/26. '
tration and in negotiations with the rebel Omani tribes (see para. 35), is
entitled to a salute of 17 guns, individual members receiving five and the p n -321 /22.
President nine, or 13 if a member of the ruling House. In theory it
exercises all ordinary powers of administration, not only during the absence,
but during the presence of the Sultan at Muscat, subject to the retention by
His Highness of power to decide all matters of extraordinary importance
affecting the interests of his State or his dynasty.J It does not, however, + g . of 1. nesp. to
appear in the past to have exercised in practice a very effective control. At Mar. 31 f 1921'
the request of the Sultan, an Englishman, Mr. B. S. Thomas, O.B.E., r. 1969 /21.
formerly assistant British representative in Trans-Jordan,§ was appointed in § Letter 418 S. from
1925 as Financial Adviser. In 1926 Mr. Thomas was appointed Wazir Minister. and of l '
a member of the Muscat Council, functioning as Finance Minister, but
having also a full share in the government of the State. The result has
been a marked improvement in the general level of efficiency of administration.
4. His Majesty's Government and the Government of India are
represented in Muscat by the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , who is an officer of the Indian
Political Department, on the cadre of which the appointment is borne. The