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Coll 34/7 'Slavery: Slave Traffic and Gun-running: Right of search by H. M. ships in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf' [‎256v] (512/576)

The record is made up of 1 file (286 folios). It was created in 11 Dec 1929-3 Feb 1948. It was written in English. 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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-7—'•
1.0. to G. of I.,
Sept. 23 192(>,
P. 3106.
13. To deal with the matter the Conference recommended the main
tenance of the existing naval forces in the Gulf; the application of pressure
to the local Sheikhs ; the grant of authority immediately to establish a motor
boat coastal patrol should an increase of the traffic take place ; the
establishment of a wireless installation at Koweit; and the making of efforts
to persuade the Sheikh of Koweit to establish registration of arms on the
lines accepted in Muscat in 1912.
Naval C. in C.,
E. Indies, to Adm.,
Mar 21 1J»21, P.1796.
Tel. from Pol. Res.
to S. of S. for 1.,
May 1 1925, P. 1345.
Pol. Res. to G. of I.,
May 16 1925,
P. 1909.
Pol. Res. to G. of I.,
March 18 1926.
P. 1418.
1-1. The death in March 1921 of Sheikh Salim of Koweit had removed
the principal figure in the arms traffic, and the succession of Sheikh Ahrnad-
el-Jabir afforded an opportunity to apply pressure to the Principality in the
matter (cp. para. 3 of Koweit Memorandum on p. JJj). In view of this, and
of the finding of the Conference that the trade in arms was relatively
insignificant, the Government of India and His Majesty’s Government
decided that the problem was not sufficiently serious to justify special
expenditure on wireless or special coastal motor boats, and that existing
arrangements were probably adequate to meet it.
15. That decision has been justified bj’ events. The new Sheikh of Koweit
has actively co-operated with His Majesty’s Government in the suppression
of the arms traffic since his accession in 1921 ; by 1925 the Political
Resident was able to report (in connection with the deliberations of the Anns
Traffic Conference at Geneva) that the trade, whether to Makran or to the
littoral between the Shatt-al-Arab and Lingah, was relatively unimportant;
in April 1920 it was decided that the maintenance of the telephone and
patrol establishment instituted on the Makran coast in 1907 in connection
with the abolition of the arms traffic was no longer necessary ; and while
in the same year the efforts of the Persian Government to disarm their
subjects on the south Persian coast led to a temporary increase of smuggling
from that coast to Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. (in connection with the suppression of
which His Majesty’s Government agreed that, provided they reported their
captures, the Trucial Chiefs might be authorised to retain, for the use of
their own military forces, such arms and ammunition as were seized by them),
the reports of the local authorities have otherwise shown year by year a
consistent decrease in the trade, to which the exhaustion of the supply of
arms on the Arab coast has doubtless contributed.
Summary.
16. While a continual vigilance is necessary, the problem at the present
day is one of inconsiderable dimensions, and the engagements existing
between His Majesty’s Government and the rulers of the Arab littoral and
Persia, coupled with the presence of His Majesty’s ships, are adequate, if
strictly interpreted, to keep it within bounds. On the Persian littoral it is,
moreover, definitely to the interest of the Persian Government that it should
be reduced to the lowest possible level, but Persia is only slowly establishing
her authority in Persian Baluchistan ; she is for practical purposes impotent
by sea; and so far as she is concerned the trade is kept under thanks to the
efforts of His Majesty’s Government. An international undertaking on the
lines of the Arms Traffic Convention of 1925, if ratified and put into force,
would afford a valuable additional obstacle to any recrudescence of the trade.
But even in the absence of such an undertaking, the fact that the Convention
of 1919 was signed, if not ratified, by the principal arms exporting countries
other than the United States of America, has the advantage of reducing
substantially the danger of obstructive action such as that taken by France
in the early years of the period now under consideration in connection with
the arms traffic in Muscat.
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. ,
8th October 1928.
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Content

Correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and notes relating to arms and slave traffic in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Principal correspondents include officials at 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. , Foreign Office, Colonial Office, and Admiralty. Further correspondence, included as enclosures, comes from: the High Commissioner (later, Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. ), Baghdad; the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Bushire; the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Division; the British Legation, Tehran; Government of India, Foreign and Political Department; Commander-in-Chief of HM Naval Forces, Mediterranean Station; British Legation, Jeddah, and the Board of Trade.

The majority of the file concerns the discussion of arms smuggling in the region, with a particular focus on the right of HM ships to search vessels for arms and slaves. Matters that are discussed include the following:

Papers of note included in the file include the following:

Extent and format
1 file (286 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged in chronological order from the back to the front.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 287; 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.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 34/7 'Slavery: Slave Traffic and Gun-running: Right of search by H. M. ships in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf' [‎256v] (512/576), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/4094, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100066488402.0x000073> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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