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File 869/1904 Pt 1 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa & Aden' [‎264v] (533/580)

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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. .

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endeavour to arrive at some arrangement with the Turkish Government, such as was
contemplated in the penultimate paragraph of your letter of the 'z9th October, 1900 ;
or, failing this, to procure a notification of the illegality of the importation of arms
into Turkish territory, as the Government of India desire.
With regard to the restrictions imposed upon British subjects at Muscat by the
Buies of 1898, Lord George Hamilton is disposed to agree with the Government of
India, and to recommend that His Majesty’s Consul at Muscat may be instructed to#^
withdraw these Buies and Begulations.
Finally, with reference to the concluding paragraph of my letter of the
25th February, I am to say that Lord George Hamilton will be glad to be informed
whether Lord Lansdowne concurs in his proposal to approve Colonel KembalPs action
in negotiating agreements with the Trucial Chiefs for the prohibition of the traffic in
arms in their territories.
I am, &c.
(Signed) HOBACE WALPOLE.
Inclosure 1 in No. 2.
Government of India to Lord G. Hamilton.
(Secret.)
My Lord, Simla, July 30, 1903.
WE have the honour to address your Lordship on the subject of the arms trade at
Muscat and in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , a matter which has now engaged the close attention
of His Majesty’s Government and the Government of India since 1897.
2. During this period a series of measures has been taken with the object of
checking and controlling the traffic. In 1898 the Persian Government were induced
to prohibit the importation of arms into the territories of the Shah, and to confer upon
our ships of war the right of searching vessels carrying the Persian flag. The Sultan
of Muscat was then prevailed upon to issue notifications, warning his subjects that
the importation of arms into India and Persia was illegal, and authorizing British and
Persian ships of war to search, within Muscat territorial waters, vessels carrying the
British, Persian, or Muscat flag. Shortly afterwards similar notifications were
issued by the Chief of Bahrein, together with a Proclamation prohibiting the importa
tion into, or the exportation from, that island of all arms and ammunition. In 1900,
Sheikh Mubarak agreed to prohibit all import and export of arms at Koweit and in
the territories under his control, and, at the close of 1902, the 'Trucial Chiefs entered
into similar engagements. Other precautions may also be briefly mentioned. In
1898, with a view to increasing the check on the traffic in Oman, rules were issued
requiring all subjects of His Majesty possessing arms within the dominions of the
Sultan to register the same at the British Consulate. In 1900 a Vice-Consul was
posted to Bunder Abbas, where it was hoped that the presence of a British officer might
lead to the display of greater vigour in the repression of the illicit importation of
arms along the neighbouring portions of the Persian coast. In the same year we took
steps to bring within the scope of the Indian Arms Act arms, ammunition, and
warlike stores brought into an Indian port and declared under manliest to be
consignments without transhipment to any port on the seaboard of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. -
linaliy, in 1902, an arrangement was made with the Governor-General of Kerman for
the adoption of special measures to prevent the importation of arms into Persian
Baluchistan, and to impose restrictions on their possession in that province. At the
neighbouring port of Gwadur the traffic had previously been declared illegal by order
of the Sultan of Muscat proclaimed in 1891.
. 3. 1 he efforts made do not appear to have been entirely fruitless. Some
indication oi the extent of the trade is afforded by the periodical information which
we receive from your Lordship of consignments from Great Britain to the Persian
• j • A. i • f, nnex a s t a t en ient showing the total of the arms and ammunition
m mated m these returns from 1897 up to April 1903. The figures show a growing
traffic up to 1~00, when the number of rifled weapons imported into Muscat reached
w G ^ a s ^ nce year there is evidence of a satisfactory decline.
. ? a S Pxi° n P ai iP a s ^ a J :emen f prepared from figures funished by the Customs autho
rities oi the Sultan at Muscat. It is unfortunate that the Customs returns show only
e value and not the number of weapons imported year by year. We learn, however,
a m J 1 91 the number of weapons which were declared at His Highness’

About this item

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' [‎264v] (533/580), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/32, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048399912.0x000086> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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