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File 395/1908 Pt 1 'Persian Gulf: Katif; British-Indian commercial interests at Katif ' [‎163r] (174/195)

The record is made up of 1 item (98 folios). It was created in Mar 1904-Nov 1910. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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No. 74 of 1904.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
To
The Right Hon’ble St. JOHN BRODRICK,
His Majesty's Secretary of State for India.
Fort William, 31st the March 1904.
Sir,
We have the honour to forward, for your information, copies of the
correspondence noted in the schedule annexed, regarding our commercial interests
at Katif. Prior to the Ottoman occupation of El Hassa, a flourishing settle
ment of Indian traders carried on business at this port. In 1871 the place
became the head-quarters of a Turkish Kaimmakam; a Customs House was
instituted; and official regulations have since been so used, or rather abused,
as to destroy the British trade which had previously been established.
An export duty of 1 per cent has practically been converted into one of 8
per cent bv the demand that a deposit of this amount should be made on the
value of all dates exported. This exaction was ostensibly intended to
prevent the diversion of cargo to the Persian coast, exports to which were
previously chargeable with a duty calculated at that rate. Every possible
difficulty appears, however, to have been placed in the way of obtaining a
refund even on proof of the goods having reached a British destination.
Remonstrances have from time to time been lodged with the responsible
Turkish officials. In 1899 Colonel Meade, our 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 reported that, as the result of a protracted correspondence, the refund
had been procured of a sum of Rs. 5,012-9-0, out of a total amounting appar
ently to some Rs. 15,000, which certain traders had been required to deposit
in accordance with the practice which we have noticed. But the abuse has
not been checked.
2. Other complaints which have been received have charged the local
officials with deliberately hampering Indian traders by delays in Custom-house
formalities, by prohibition of the supply of transport, and by the use of
quarantine regulations as a pretext for the detention ot Indian craft which had
been clear of infected ports for periods entitling them to exemption from
restraint even under the most rigid sanitary rules. In 1900 Colonel Meade s
successor forwarded correspondence which showed that the bama community
at Katif had been reduced from one of 70 or 80 persons to a single trader,
and that a party of those who were still desirous of carrying on business at the
port had furnished the clearest evidence of the harassment to which they had
been subiected by expressing their willingness to pay in advance the cost of
maintaining a British Agent to protect their interests on the spot. In view of
Se antagonism with the Turks into which we had been brought m other parts
of the Gulf, we deemed it inadvisable at the time to propose an attempt to
obtain the recognition by the Porte of a British representative at Katit His
Britannic Majesty’s Consul, however, brought the complaints which had been

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Part 1 contains correspondence relating to the treatment of British-Indian traders at the port of Katif [Al-Qaṭīf]. The correspondence is mostly between the Foreign Department of the Government of India, the Foreign Office, and the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. . Further correspondence, included as enclosures, is from the 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. at Bahrain, British Consul at Basrah, British Embassy at Constantinople, British-Indian Merchants in Bahrain, and Turkish officials in Basrah.

The papers cover the discussion over the reported mistreatment and overcharging of Indian merchants at Katif including proposals to establish a vice-consular presence at the port and to install a graded Political Officer as 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 Bahrain, and the Turkish response to British complaints.

Folios 119-122 are 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. 's, Percy Zachariah Cox, report into the excess customs charges.

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1 item (98 folios)
Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 395/1908 Pt 1 'Persian Gulf: Katif; British-Indian commercial interests at Katif ' [‎163r] (174/195), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/134/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100027922548.0x000082> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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