'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency for the Years 1911-1914' [‎74v] (153/488)

20 PERSIAN GrTJLF ADMINISTRATION REPORT
there is every hope that before long a satisfactory understanding with His
Maiestv's Government and the Sultan will be reached. Meanwhile the public
seem to have accepted the fact that the warehouse arrangement has come to
stay and that the days of the smuggling traffic on which they have fattened for
so many years past are numbered.
There is, of course, a considerable stock of arms in the public and in private
warehouses in Maskat which has to be got rid of, and the publication of the
notice regarding the warehouse scheme naturally caused manufacturers at home
to endeavour to dump at Maskat the supplies which they already had on hand
but it will be seen from 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. 's report that towards the end of the
year imports began to fall off in a marked way. It has been decided to con-
tinue blockade operations until the negotiations with France haye been
brought to a head, but it is found that the smuggling fraternity no longer risk
transporting large consignments and have resorted to passing the arms over in
driblets which are jettisoned on the approach of a man-of-war.
This development has made the task of His Majesty's Navy all the more
laborious and heart-breaking, as comparatively few large captures have
rewarded the elaborate search of a large number of native craft.
From the public point of view, however, it matters little whether the arms
are jettisoned by the smugglers themselves or consigned to the deep after capture
by His Majesty's Ships; in either case the object of their labours is achieved.
For the present their chief attentions are still mainly centred in the upper part
of the Gulf.
The Arms Traffic question having continued to monopolize the time and
energies of the Sultan and 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. , the pursuit of other important
problems connected with Maskat have necessarily remained in abeyance, but
one or two items call for brief mention. Firstly, the application of the Indian
Pilgrim Ships Act of 1895 to Maskat and to the Persian Coast and Islands wag
made operative somewhat hurriedly at the beginning of the pilgrim season, and
the bulk of work in connection with its enforcement will fall upon Maskat,
which is now a compulsory port of call for Pilgrim Ships.
At the end of the year, in connection with the comprehensive scheme of
lighting and buoying undertaken by the British Government, the question of the
Lighting and Buoying, precise site for a lighthouse at the
entrance to the Gulf was under lively
consideration, there being some divergence of opinion as to whether the point
should be decided on purely navigational grounds or in connection with the
strategic necessities of our position at the mouth of the Upper Gulf; the matter
was undecided at the end of the year, but the trend of opinion was in favour of
the selection of Little Quoin.
The general situation of this coast has altered little from last year, and no
Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. . measures on the part of Government,
_ ~ either for the introduction of the telegraph
shape 1 * 8tren gtlioning of our position in any other way, have yet taken
Bw7 hi !?^ 0 l th - bus ^ ai noiig the ruling Shaikhs, the Chiefs of
short peSdstf JSr ^ died UIiex P ectedl y in Ae prime of life after
? oast ^ achieved unpleasant notoriety during the year in connection
We S th^Z^V 14 is cohered, owing Jthe non-possumus att.-
trade f fected tha tt to any deliberate wish to encourage tie
hlocLde^he S i de ^ el0pmeilt is tlla t the effective measures taken to
counled with flip , oas ^ and to deal with dhows carrying arms up the Guli
P. . BMiety of arms traders to ffet rid of their stocks in view of the
^ thfeffe^
whLe^ dwL? r rffi t0 . the deserted parts of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , from
oS to , ^tr proved a comparatively safe enter-.
threat to ondeavolirtn w 8 ''f® 11 con stantly urged by pressure, persuasion
ncleavour to put a stop to the use of their coast for this purpose,