'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.' [‎28r] (57/132)

Khan, especially if the fact of its having
been conveyed might be intimated to him
by the Resident. The Secretary of State
has now telegraphed that appreciation of the
Khan’s services will he conveyed to the
Persian Government by His Majesty’s Minister
at Tehran, who will inform Major Cox when
this has been done, in order that the Khan
mav he informed bv that officer.
» «
45. [Fide para. 218, December
KA.TIF. 19 ° 7 ^ 0n the 3rd
insult offered to January 1908, the
British Navo officers Secretary of State for
by Turkish officials at— T t , i . , «
India telegraphed to
the Government of India that Sir N. O’Conor
had been instructed by despatch to inform
the Porte that, the El Katif incident would not
be regarded as closed till a formal apology
had been made by the offending officials to
the Commander of H. M. S. “Lapwing” for
the discourtesy shown to him The despatch
suggested the desirability of the Wali of
Basrah being instructed by his Government to
furnish an open letter to Lieutenant-Com
mander Gouldsmith, containing peremptory
orders to the El Katif officials to proceed on
board IT. M. S. “ Lapwimr ” at an hour and
date convenient to the Officer in Command,
and tender a formal apology, both in writing
and in person, for their previous misconduct.
On the 21st January 1908, Sir N. O’Conor
reported to Sir E Grey that, as the result of his
representations made to the Porte in August,
the Wali of Basrah, while expressing his keen
regret for what had occurred, had informed His
Majesty’s Consul at Basrah that there was
no Kaimakam at El Katif at the time of the
incident, the post being in charge of a certain
Avni Effendi, whom he had removed. The
Wali stated that from his enquiries it appeared
that the Captain of the port was chiefly to
blame in the matter, and that he had been
suspended for three months. On receipt of
further instructions from the Minister of the
Interior, the Wali had wTitten officially to
His Majesty’s Consul at Basrah and informed
him that instructions in writing had been
sent to the present Kaimakam of El Katif
to tender a formal apology to the Com
mander of H. M. S. “Lapwing” on his
next visit. The Minister of the Interior
informed Sir N. O’Conor that his instructions
were such that if His Majesty’s Government
thought it desirable, the Kaimakam would
make the apology to the _ Commander of any
other of His Majesty’s ships that might call at
El Katif in the meantime. In view of the
possibility that H. M. S. “ Lapwing ” might
not return to El Katif for some time, and
that if no apology were tendered until her
return, the incident might by that time
be so remote that the apology would not
have due effect locally, Sir N. O’Conor was