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File 869/1904 Pt 1 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa & Aden' [‎164r] (332/580)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (286 folios). It was created in 2 Jul 1902-22 Dec 1906. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

Transcription

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are
locally used or disposed of, but a certain number doubtless
find their way with passing caravans into the limits of this
Protectorate and swell the number of those landed direct at cur
ports.
9. The mainfacts which I desire to convey for the in
formation of Government are that this Protectorate is already
full of riles, that these as*© rifles are mainly of the Le Gras
pattern, and that the main source of supply is Jibouti via the
coast and not from the interior of Yemen. I would add that tie
Le Gras rifle is much liked by the Arab. It is cheap and of
convenient size and pattern and particularly suitable for the
use of those v/ho ride on camels. It is obtained without much
real difficulty. The Arabs seem to be able to reload the Le
Gras cartridges two or three times v/hereas they fi d it dif
ficult to reload the Martini Henry cartridge which more readily
splits. As to the risk of obtaining supplies this is not at
present any effective deterrent.
10. Within the limit of this Protectorate thus full of a
cheap and popular weapon of precision, which is in the pos
session not only of the armed follow rs of the more important
Chiefs but of the majority of the tribesmen of even the most
petty clan or sub-tribe who reside anywhere within a few days
march of the coast, it is clear that the introduction of any
other weapon and the successful carrying out of the general
policy stated in yr. Hill^ letter under reference ho.2107,
dated the 31st March 1905 must be a matter of considerable
difficulty.
11. It is to be considered that with the single exception
of the Sultan of Shehr and Mokalla who keeps a small number of
regular and moderately trained soldiers, the other Chiefs of
this Protectora-fee at present possess no regular soldiery and
have practically no limitations to the numbers of their standing
armies, in which are practically included all inale members of
the population capable of carrying arms and not otherwise
engaged or preoccupied. In his address to His Excellency the
Governor of Bombay ma<fce in February 1903 the Abdali Sultan re
presented

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Content

This volume is the first of three successive volumes of correspondence (IOR/L/PS/10/32-34), relating to the British prohibition and suppression of arms traffic between ports in Aden, the Red Sea and the coast of East Africa. The several correspondents include officials at the Foreign Office, the 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. and the Admiralty in London, as well as officials in the Government of India Foreign and Political Department and in the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. Political Department. Other notable correspondents are the Commander-in-Chief for the East Indies Station and the Senior Naval Officer for the Aden Division, 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. and the First Assistant Resident at Aden, and the British Commissioner for the Somaliland Protectorate. Included in the correspondence between officials are: a petition from the people of Zeyla [Zeila] to the Deputy Commissioner of British Somaliland in 1905, representations made by British Indian merchants to 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. at Muscat in 1903, a witness statement made by an Arab boat captain to the Harbour Police at Aden in 1905, and an arms traffic intelligence report received from a Reuter’s agent in about 1903. There are a few nineteenth century enclosures to the correspondence between officials, including two letters written in 1891, from Ras Makunan [Makonnen] the Governor of Harrar [Harar, Ethiopia], to 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. and Consul for the Somali Coast.

The volume contains a small amount of correspondence in French, in the form of an exchange of notes between the French Minister and the British and Italian Ambassadors in Paris and London, 1905-1906, as well as a copy in French of the Arms Traffic Agreement between France, Italy and Great Britain that was signed in London on 13 December 1906. The diplomatic correspondence also includes an English translation of a document entitled ‘Instructions for the Suppression of the Traffic in Arms in Somaliland’, compiled in about 1904 by the Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs and the Italian Minister of Marine.

The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (286 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume. The subject 869 (Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa and Aden) consists of three volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/32-34. The volumes are divided into three parts, with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 288; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Two additional foliation sequences are also present in parallel between ff 67-85, and ff 97-169; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 869/1904 Pt 1 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa & Aden' [‎164r] (332/580), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/32, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048399911.0x000085> [accessed 24 April 2024]

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