File 345/1908 Pt 1 'Mohammerah: situation. British assurances to Sheikh.' [‎155v] (315/416)

Goveru-
ment of
India’s
letter of
February
10 , 1898 .
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.
to Foreign
Office,
October 19,
1898 .
Govern
ment of
India’s
letter of
March 31, i
1904 .
Mr. Brod-
rick’s
telegram
of June 24 ,
1908 .
Govern
ment of
India’s
letter of
Februarv
21 , 1907 .
for the first time as an importer of arms into Muscat, though it is believed that rifles
of Belgian manufacture have for many years past been imported in considerable
numbers.
In 1897 the Government of India determined to make an effort to check the
arms traffic at Muscat, and, accordingly, in January 1898 joint representations were
made to the Sultan by the British and Persian Governments, urging him to
co-operate in the suppression of the traffic. His Highness fell in with the sus^estion
'and on the 13th January of that year issued ( 1 ) a Notification warning his subjects
that the importation of arms and ammunition into India and Persia was illegal; and
( 2 ) a Proclamation authorizing British and Persian vessels of war to search, within
Muscat territorial waters, vessels carrying the British, Persian, or Muscat flag, as well
as Muscat vessels in Indian and Persian waters, and to confiscate arms and ammuni
tion intended for Indian and Persian ports.
The right of search does not extend to the vessels of other nations, and, as has
been stated above, the terms of his Commercial Treaties render it impossible for the
Sultan, without the consent of the Treaty Powers, to impose any general restriction on
the import of arms into Muscat.
In the same year, 1898, with a view to imposing a further check on the arms
traffic in Oman, rules were issued requiring all British subjects possessing arms within
the Sultan’s territory to register the same at the British Consulate. It may be
doubted, however, whether this measure has done more than throw the trade to an
increasing extent into foreign hands. In the same way it seems not unlikely that
the action recently taken by the British India Steam Navigation Company to check
the smuggling of arms in small quantities by the Company’s steamers in the Gulf
may only result in diverting traffic of this kind to vessels which are not placed under
such restrictions.*
It may be added that the import of arms at Gwadur, the Sultan of Muscat’s
dependency on the Mekran coast, was prohibited by a Proclamation issued by His
Highness on the 3rd March, 1891.
In March 1901, the Government of India proposed that the terms of the Muscat
Proclamation of 1898 should be extended so as to cover the export of arms to Turkish
ports, and to the territories of the Sheikhs of Bahrein and Koweit, and of the Trucial
Chiefs, as well as to <£ Indian and Persian” ports, which already fell within the
scope of the Proclamation. This proposal was not carried into effect, it being at the
time held undesirable, in view of the Sheikh’s position in regard to the warfare in
iCentral Arabia,- to impose any fresh restrictions on the importation of arms at
fKoweit. The necessary arrangements with Turkey also presented some difficulty.
The Government of India have also from time to time recommended—
( 1 .) That the French Government should be approached with a view to their
being induced to agree to the total prohibition of the arms traffic at Muscat; and
( 2 .) That the Porte should be asked to agree to our patrolling the Turkish littoral
against arms smugglers, or at least to declare the illegality of the traffic.
Neither of these suggestions has hitherto borne fruit. The question was passed
in review by the Government of India as recently as February 1907, and the
conclusion at which they arrived, after a careful and detailed examination of the case,
was that the aims traffic would continue to flourish and increase until an Agreement
with France was arrived at, and a complete prohibition was enforced against the
importation of arms and ammunition into the territories of the Sultan of Muscat.
The whole question will come up for discussion at the forthcoming International
Conference at Brussels.
Tnder the Brussels Act of 1890 for regulating the traffic in arms, any one of the
Signatory Powers that has occasion to authorize such traffic in territories of its own
lying within the region affected by the provisions of the Act, is required to establish
a “public warehouse,” under the control of its local Administration, in which all
imported arms must be deposited, and from which they mav not be withdrawn
without the previous authorization of the Administration.
There seems no hope of obtaining the consent of France, and the other Powers
having Treaty relations with Muscat, to the Sultan’s prohibiting, proprio motv, the
import of arms into his dominions. The only remedv for the present evil would
* See below, under Koweit.