File 619/1907 Pt 1 'Arms Traffic :- Muscat Warehouse. Negotiations with France 1907-1911.' [‎194r] (396/980)

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Telegram P., No. 407, dated (and received) the 27th April 1910.
From—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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
To The Foreign Department, Simla.
With reference to your telegram No. 242 S., 24th April I repeat the
following from 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. at Maskat '.—Begins. Your telegram No. 399.
Unless arrangement is kept an absolute secret, I do not think that French
t S ^ r m " ch J r0m a P rohibition of import for one year,
A of . s ® arch P f Ereilcl1 dh o w s is not granted. My telegram of 23rd
thev 1 kLnw haVe in i°. rme . d y° u th at the arms-dealers are again active : possibly
they know something is m the wind. If this be so, the French dealers will
simply import large quantity of arms between now and 1st August and export
them m French dhows °^ loion-m it 4i ~— i_ - -r
m irenon dhows at leisure. Even if there is a prohibition, we shall
presumably have to maintain a fairly strict watch, in order to prevent the
stock at present in hand and imported before 1st August. For
the above reasons, I do not think that prohibition for one year on terms
suggested is of much value unless it is practically certain to be followed
by permanent prohibition. As to the presumption, my opinion is not
required. If permanent prohibition be enforced it might be advisable
as a matter of expediency to compensate arms-dealers. As to third point I
think a system of export would have to be started as suggested in my telegram
from Bushire, No. 178, 25th February. The importation of small-bore
magazine and automatic rifles without a permit might be prohibited, as local
demand is still for an old-fashioned cheap rifle. I do not think that the
Sultan could at present manage State monopoly or until he reorganises his
customs. Indeed, until this is done, I do not see how he can put any effective
restrictions on import and export. Ends.
I generally endorse contents of above. Even for prohibition for one year,
we should presumably incur obligation or compensation to French and Sultan,
for which we should get no return if negotiations were again abortive. Mean
while, blockade would still have to be maintained to keep out arms already
stored in Maskat and elsewhere. Refusal by the French of right of search
seems to afford us good grounds for withdrawing from the negotiations for one
year’s prohibition, and I would recommend that we do so, and that then further
overtures should be dropped until next spring by which time the maximum
effect of blockade will have been achieved. I think it would be possible to
devise system for regulating legitimate import and export which ^yould
ameliorate the position a good deal, but the degree of efficacy of such a scheme
would depend directly on the extent to which we could withdraw the working
management from the Sultan’s hands. In order to make the scheme fully effective,
it would be necessary to exercise a considerable amount of supervision over
outlying ports of Oman and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and this would be an expensive
business. French participation would be little more than nominal, because
they could not be expected to share expenses. Much the same considerations
would apply to State monopoly. But for any scheme of above nature, in
addition to working expenses, we should have to buy the co-operation of the
Sultan and perhaps that of France. Consequently, in view of the fact that the
Mekran Coast blockade is succeeding so well, I would recommend that no
expensive palliative measure be proceeded with, until the blockade has
reached point of greatest effect, and that another attempt should then be
made to bring about a settlement of whole Maskat question with France.
The indemnification of all Maskat arms vendors by the purchase of their
stocks might prove an enormously expensive undertaking, and should be
avoided altogether, if possible, I think. ^ In any case the contingency should
only be entertained in the event of Article II of the Treaty of 1844 being
effectively modified. Yendora deserve no compensation as long as we merely
suppress contraband traffic.