'Administration Reports for 1947' [‎27r] (53/128)

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inoculated. No further case occurred and it is presumed that
the suspected case was not, in fact, cholera. The quarantine
restrictions caused very considerable dislocation and adversely
affected trade for some weeks afterwards.
(viii) Postal Services .
During the year a Sub-Post Office was opened in
Sharjah for two days a week as an experiment. The amount of
postal business transacted did not justify its continuation.
Air mail services were interrupted when B.O.A.C’s "C” Class
flying boats ceased to call at Dubai. Arrangements were later
made to fly mails to Bahrain in R.A.F, aircraft.
On the 29th October Mr, W. Appleby of the British
General Post Office accompanied by Khan Sahib Abdul Hamid,
Superintendent, Civil Engineering, Post Office, Hyderabad, visited
Dubai to study the problems involved in the transfer of the
Dubai Post Office from the Government of Pakistan to K.i .G.
(ix) Dubai - Abu Dhabi dispute ,
The armed conflict between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
which arose last year over the ownership of Khor Ghanadha was
being actively prosecuted by Abu Dhabi at the beginning of the
year. Shaikh Jumah bin T aktum, brother of the Ruler of Dubai,
who had been one of the main obstacles to a settlement last year
was ordered 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 reside in Bahrain until
further notice, and economic sanctions were enforced, against
Shaikh Shakhbut bin Sultan bin Zaid of Abu Dhabi. these measures
resulted in the settlement of the dispute on the 6 th March. The
cessation of hostilities was agreed,with jubilation by subjects
of both Shaikhs. On the 8 th May Shaikh Shakhbut'came to Sharjah
and met Shaikh Sai’d bin Maktum, O.B.E., Ruler of Dubai, at the
Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . Unfortunately the settlement proved to be only temporary,
for shortly afterwards Shaikh Shakhbut failed to fulfil his
undertaking to bring his allies into the settlement: and, although
he was repeatedly called upon by 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. to act in
accordance with the peace treaty which he had signed, he declared
that he was unable to do so and alleged that he exercised no
control over his former allies. The chief of these, the Manasir,
then restarted their depredations against Dubai. Economic
sanctions ws?e were re-imposed against Abu Dhabi and continued
up to the end of the year. After forbearing to retaliate for
the first raid, in November the Shaikh of Dubai sent a pursuit
party after a large force of Manasir that raided his territory
a second time, x hey overtook the raiders at Soat, north of Liw'a,
and inflicted very heavy- casualties on theip. Indeed, the casualties
of 56 killed and 20 v/ounded on the Manasir side - including the
leader of the Manasir force wounded - and 5 fatal casualties
among the Dubai force are said to be the heaviest suffered in
a tribal fight on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. within living memory: and
many think that the- power of those sections of the Manasir that are
allied to Abu Dhabi has been seriously curtailed if not broken
for some time to come.
(x) Jawasim .
The Jawasim Shaikhs of ^harjah and Has al Khaimah
together with their cousin Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad, Regent of
Kalba, prove, as we gain experience of them, more and more
conclusively their impotence and incapacity to rule. Neither
the Shaikh of Sharjah nor the Shaikh of Ras al Khaimah was able
to facilitate the work of the oil company in his Shaikhdom
without the Intervention of the Political Officer, while the
Shaikhs of Hira and of the Beni Qitab openly defied Sharjah
and were only brought to terms by the payment of allowances
of Rs.5,000/- and Rs. 30,000/- a year respectively. The Shaikh
of Ras al Khaimah has been at loggerheads with his hephews, and
the dispute was not settled until he satisfied them financially.
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