'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf for the Year 1937' [‎33r] (65/72)

The Sultan's official visit (the first he has paid to India) can be described
as a great success. Thanks to the excellent arrangements made by the various
Departments concerned everything went off without a hitch and His Highness
it seems was genuinely impressed with the treatment he received and grateful
for all the trouble taken to ensure his comfort and amusement.
On 30th November the Sultan left Bombay via Singapore for Japan
where he intends to stay about one month with his father, Saiyid Taimur bin
Faisal, late Sultan of Muscat and Oman, who has settled down in that country
and is living at present at Kobe.
From Japan the Sultan proposes to proceed to the United States of
America where his visit to Washington will be official and where he will be
the guest of President Roosevelt. After leaving the United States of
America the Sultan is to pay an official visit to England in March and probably
to France later on. It is possible he may visit Germany and Italy privately
on his way back to Muscat, which he hopes to reach early in May 1938.
(6) Saiyid Nadir. —The Senior Member of the Ruling Family, as in re
cent years, took no part in State affairs but invariably was present at all
official functions.
(c) Saiyid Shahab, who is a " real " uncle of the Sultan, acted as the
latter's Representative on the various occasions during the year when he
was absent from the State. During the Sultan's presence in Muscat Saiyid
Shahab as previously occupied no particular office. In March he proceeded to
Karachi for Medical treatment and returned to Muscat towards the end of
May.
{d) Saiyid Hamad, who had been removed from the post of Wali of
Matrah in 1935, was reinstated in that appointment by the Sultan when the
latter returned to Muscat from Dhofar in February and at the end of the
year was still in that office.
(e) Saiyid Mahmud, who had relieved Saiyid Hamad as Wali of Matrah
in October 1935, was removed from the post by the Sultan in February since
which time he has taken no part in public life. His removal from the Wali-
ship of Matrah is believed to be due to his general inefficiency and lack of
interest in his work which resulted in an appreciable loss in the revenue and
other receipts of the Town.
2. Financial Adviser.- —While at Delhi during his official visit to His
Excellency the Viceroy the Sultan expressed a desire to obtain the services
of a suitable officer as Financial Adviser which post has now been vacant for
several years.
3. Trade and General. —This subject has already been dealt with in
Part I of this Report.
4. Municipal Taxation. —Under Article 19 of the 1891 Treaty of Com
merce, Navigation and Friendship His Majesty's Government had agreed in
principle to the payment under certain conditions by British subjects of Muni
cipal Taxes in the towns of Muscat and Matrah. So far back as the early part
of 1935 a King's Regulation (No. 1 of 1935) had been issued announcing that
conditional upon the prior approval of the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Muscat, Gov
ernment Municipal Taxes could be imposed on those persons subject to the
Muscat Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. of 1915. On publication of this King's Regulation
the Muscat Government were requested to form proper Municipalities for
the towns of Muscat and Matrah and to draw up a scheme of Municipal
taxation for the approval of the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. . Owing principally to
the prolonged absence of the Sultan for nearly a year and a half in a remote
and inaccessible part of his dominions and also to the inability of the State
officials to draw up a suitable scheme of taxation no progress was made in
the matter until His Highness's return to the Capital early in the year.
Owing to the lack of experience and proper organization in the State
Administration it was found impossible to work out the usual form of muni
cipal taxation and a proposal was then put forward by the Sultan and
ultimately agreed to by the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. to impose a tax of one anna