File 759/1912 'Henjam Coal Depot: Persian Customs' [‎182v] (369/434)

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in the event of their protesting according to their want, at action taken on the
littoral by His Majesty’s ships in the task of runinng arms smugglers or pirates to
ground.
14. In any case I earnestly hope that in considering any proposal or
question hinging on the nature of our position at Henjam the Government of
India will not underrate the great strategical and political advantage which it
would be to us now-a-days to achieve for ourselves a position on the Island, or
part of it—either by making the most of our concession, or by lease, or other
alternative—which would place us in a position to use it as we pleased. In addi
tion to the consideration that the Henjam Strait forms the most central and
protected coaling anchorage in these waters, many troublesome problems would
by that means find direct or indirect solution. Take for example, the question
of the oft proposed International Sanitary Station for the Gulf, a bogey which
periodically reappears and which the recent epidemics of plague at Bahrain and
Debai are likely to revive acutely at any moment. Foreign intrigues in the
direction of the establishment of such a Station would be to a great extent
silenced if we had a Sanitary Station of our own at Henjam at which British
vessels entering with cargo and leaving with pilgrims could be dealt with.
Again, many of our difficulties in dealing with the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. would dis
appear if we had a settlement at Henjam. It could be used as a distributing
port for British trade as Colonel Peily, with his usual prescience, advocated nearly
half a century ago; and an Assistant Resident located there, with cable connec
tion to the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , would be most favourably placed for managing the
Shaikhs without the somewhat penible necessity of living among them.
I fear this letter has assumed great length, but the question of Henjam is
possessed of so much importance and potentiality that I trust l shall be for
given for spreading myself somewhat over it.
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G. C. B. P. t Simla.-—No. C. 247 P. D.-2i-id II.— 44 . — F. C. A.