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File 869/1904 Pt 1 'Arms Traffic: - Red Sea, Africa & Aden' [‎265v] (535/580)

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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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/
4
s what we desire, it would be a distinct gain if they formally notified to His Majesty’s
Government that the importation of arms into their dominions without special licence
is prohibited, as we should then he in a position to invite the assistance of the Sultan
of Muscat in restraining his subjects from the shipment of arms thither, and the
excuse that they were hound for some part of the Turkish coast line could no longer
be put forward by native craft sailing northward from Oman. Me regard the conclu
sion of some arrangement with Turkey as an indispensable adjunct of our scheme, and<*
its necessity would not he removed by the prohibition of the traffic at Muscat. That ^
measure, we have no doubt, would provide a check more effective than any yet
devised, but we could not hope that it would entirely abolish the trade. In our
Confidential Marine despatch of the 9th October, 1902, we recommended to your
Lordship the removal of the present restrictions on the arming of vessels of the
Indian Marine, and we explained that it was our desire to organize a more effective
system of patrol for the capture of smugglers of arms. We regret that in your
Lordship’s Military despatch, dated the 26th June last, you have been unable to
accede to our request; although the changes indicated as to the disposition of His
Majesty’s ships in Indian waters in your Military despatch of the 3rd July last,
will add somewhat to the patrolling power of the navy in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The
obstacles in the way of an effective naval patrol under existing conditions are clearly
explained in the letter from Commander Kemp, dated the 11th September, 1902,* anil
in the absence of some understanding with Turkey, the task of the best organized
preventive service must remain one of the utmost difficulty.
6. We take this opportunity of forwarding, for your Lordship’s consideration, the
accompanying copy of a letter from our Officiating 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. in the Persian
Gulf, requesting the cancellation of the rules which were issued by the British Consul
at Muscat on the 27th June, 1898, and which place certain restrictions on the posses
sion of arms by British subjects within the dominions of the Sultan. So long as the
trade continues, it is desirable that, so far as possible, it should remain in the hands of
British subjects rather than that it should pass to Trench firms, and that business at
Muscat should thus become more profitable than ever to M. Goguyer and his fellows.
W e realize that the regulations in question must tend to place British traders at a
disadvantage compared w T ith their rivals of other nationalities, and we are inclined to
think that this consideration more than outweighs the advantage of the limited degree
of control which the rules secure.
We have, &c.
(Signed) CURZON.
KITCHENER.
T. RALEIGH.
E. EG. LAW.
E. R. ELLES.
A. T. ARUNDEL.
DENZIL IBBETSON.
t
Vide Inclosure 16 to our Secret despatch dated January 29, l90o<

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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' [‎265v] (535/580), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/32, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048399912.0x000088> [accessed 11 May 2024]

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