'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency for the Years 1911-1914' [‎54r] (112/488)

POLITICAL RESIDENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. FOR 1911.
94
It will be seen in last year's narrative that the Shaikh of Debai's cousin
Maktum, after his fatal affray with Muhammad bin Nasir bin Luta, took
refuge in the house of one Ahmed bin Dalmuk, a near kinsman of the Shaikh
of Debai by marriage.
It will also be seen in the same report that the house of Ahmad bin
Dalmuk was one of those reported by informers to the Captain of H. M. S.
44 Hyacinth " as having a store of smuggled arms, and that it was on his
proceeding to search this house that his party was fired at.
Now one of the persons from whom the Flag Captain's information
regarding the presence of arms was obtained was Ahmad bin Luta. This
may be only a coincidence; on the other hand it is by no means impossible
that the information was laid by the Bin Lutas by way of " getting their own
back."
During the hot weather of 1911, the family inadvisedly and against the
specific counsel of the Resident transferred their domicile to Ajman. This
in itself made it evident to the Shaikh of Debai that the Bin Lutas had not
really buried the hatchet.
On arrival at Ajman they commenced intriguing, by employing them
selves, or encouraging the Shaikh of Ajman to employ, runaway divers from
Debai, a proceeding invariably leading to trouble on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .
They also seem to have been instrumental in sowing seeds of ill-feeling be
tween the Chief of Ajman and the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent, and matters had arrived
at a pass which called for prompt treatment when the Resident returned to
the Gulf after absence 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). . The action taken would pro
perly fall within next year's report, but to complete the narrative it may
be mentioned that the two brothers were heavily fined and obliged to deposit
a further sum as security for good behaviour, and appear, for the present at
all events, to have been thereby reduced to a tractable demeanour.
It is a matter for great regret that plague seems to have come to stay in
the Gulf. A verv severe epidemic
plague • occurred on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. during the
spring and hot weather of the year under report, commencing at Debai and
extending to Shargah, and probably to an inconsiderable extent to neighbour
ing villages also.
The inhabitants themselves attribute the visitation specifically to the
intercourse now prevailing between Debai and India by British India
steamers; and specially to the arrival of large cargoes of rice m May and
June.
Owing to the slowness of letter communication and the ignorance of the
inhabitants, the disease must have been prevalent for some time before it was
diagnosed, owins to some plague-stricken passengers arriving at LmgaH
from Debai. Once it got a hold, the disease appears to have spread very
r'inidiv and though the circumstances made it difficult to frame any reii-
able figures, the Eesidency Agent and the Shaikh of ^ ebal ®^P re °? inl0 T "
that not less than 2,000 persons died m Debai and about 500 m Shargah. It
appears to have dted out as suddenly as it came, and by August the towns
were said to be quite clear.
It is realised that the appearance of plague at Debai, now a regular
nort of steamer call, engages the responsibility of the Government of India
Fn the matter of medical supervision of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ; a somewhat diffi
cult problem, which occupies their lively attention.
There being some tangible grounds to apprehend that European pearl
merchants, stimulated by the consider-
pearl fisheries. able success which has attended their
( „««e r e r s of EuropeanS t0 8et a operations in the direction of pearl
(2) Reported depletion of pearl banks. buying in the Gulf Ports, might attempt
to enter still further into the local industry by inveigling unsophisticated
native Rulers into giving them fishing concessions, the Eesident was author-
fsed to explain to the Shaikhs of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , Bahrain and Kuwait
how greatly it would be to the prejudice of their own interests to grant suen