'File No. II/9 Foreign Dept Memoranda of Information re. affairs in Persian Gulf, Maskat & Arabian Shore of the Persian Gulf. Nov '07 - Dec '08.' [‎8r] (17/132)

FEFRUARY TOTS PERSIAN GULP .
AR-IS-TRAI'E ...The G. of I. on the 1st of Pebrnar„
/?o7
addressed a despatch to H. J. G-. on the subject of the
ams trade at llashat 8c inthe P. Cf.
The G-. of I. had in the ^ ear 190o submitted reconnend-
ations to his LI. G.with a viev; to check & connrol
the traffic in arms.
The proposals then made were
agree to the prohibition b„ the Sultan of IJaskat of
arms 8c amnnrinto his dominions.
al in the case of Persia , Koweit , Fahrein , 8 c the
Tmcial coast , it would be desirable , in order to
make the circle complete , that some understanding sh
should be arrived at regdg: Turkish territory also .
It was urged that , if possible , an arrangement
might be made with Turke w either for the search of ves.
sels filing the Turkish flag b w 7 ritish ships of war
o'tffor the issue of a formal notifn: b w Turke w prohibi
ting the import at iion of arms into the Ottoman domin
ions . In repl w the G. of I.had been informed on the
3rd Nov: 190othat the question of the suppression of
the traffic had been informally broached b w Lord
Lansdowne to the French ambassador ,8c that the 7 r: am
bassador had been instructed to obtain from the PDrte
a formal notification t o the effect that the
ihpdrtation of arms into Turkishdominions was pro hib*
ited .
T n addressing Lord Lansdovmie on the subject in his
despatch , dated 16th Nov: , Sir N. O’connor pointed
out , however, that it would be inexpedient , in the
circs: explaind b w him , to invite a formal notificn:
from the Porte ,which might be given in a form to
which H. LI. Of. would be obliged to demur , in view
of the fact that negotiations for a commercial treaty
between Cf. Tn 8c Turkey were still in suspense ♦
(l)that the French Govt: should be asked to
(2)that as the importation of arms was illeg-