File 4535/1928 Pt 8 ‘ – PERSIAN GULF – QUESTION OF ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTECTORATES OVER KOWEIT, BAHREIN, MUSCAT, TRUCIAL COAST.’ [‎63v] (120/194)

2
* Lor. i. 47‘2.
t Lor. i, -l'88—!>.
| Lor. i, 499-500,
512-3.
§ Sir D. Brav to
Mr. Wakely, D.O.
1956, E.A., July 21
1921. P. 3588/21.
post, which is at present held by Major G. P. Murphy, Indian Army, lias
been maintained without interruption since its revival* after the separation
of Muscat from Zanzibar in 1861. In 1869 it was placed in strict
subordination to 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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .| Since 1867
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. has also held His Majesty’s Commission as Consul for ^
Muscat. Under the Muscat Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. of 1915 (see paras. 66-4 ^
below), which replaced the Muscat Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. of 1867, the Political
Agent is the District Magistrate and Sessions Judge, and exercises his
powers subject to the jurisdiction of 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. in the Persian
Gulf. The limits of the Order are co-extensive with the territories and
territorial waters of the Sultan of Muscat and Oman.
5. No specific reference was made to Muscat in the Report of the
Masterton-Smith Committee, and while, under the general principle embodied
in that Committee, matters of political significance on the north Arabian
littoral which may affect relations with Ibn Saud fall to be dealt with by
or in consultation with the Colonial Office, such matters rarely, if at all, arise
in Muscat, and political control may in consequence be regarded as resting,
as in the pre-war period, with the Government of India, subject to the
general control of His Majesty’s Government. Under the principles
embodied in the Masterton-Smith Report, the internal affairs of the State are
in any event the direct concern of the Government of India.
6. With the inconsiderable exception referred to below, expenditure in
Muscat is wholly borne by Indian revenues. That expenditure consists of
subsidies to the Sultan, of Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). presents, and of the cost of maintaining
the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . The subsidies consist of an annual sum of Rs. 86,400,
representing the $40,000 payable by Zanzibar to Muscat under the Canning
award of 1861 (liability for this payment was assumed by His Majesty’s
Government in 1871, and has since 1st September 1888 been wholly an
Indian charge),J and of the annual subsidy of Rs. 1 lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees paid since 1912
(see paras. .12 and 22 below) in compensation for the losses to the Sultan
arising out of the suppression of the arms traffic, which will cease with the
tenure of power by the present Sultan. These charges are fixed, and their
amount does not vary. In the latest year for which authoritative figures are
available (1919-20), the cost of the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. was Rs. 78,427, and in
the same year Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). presents amounted to Rs. 5,000.§ The solitary item
of expenditure shared with His Majesty’s Government is a yearly payment
in respect of anti-slavery measures, the amount of which in 1926 was Rs. 78.
II.—1908 to 4th October 1913 : Sultan Faisal.
6. The dominating feature ot‘ the period between 1908 and 1913 is
the successful suppression, in agreement with the Sultan of Muscat, of the
arms traffic from his State, and no other question of sufficiently general
interest to call for reference in this Memorandum arose in the closing years
of the reign of Sultan Faisal. The rebellion of the Omani tribes, which
broke out some months before Ins death on 4th October 1913, belongs
principally to the reign of his successor. It is dealt with in a separate
section in paras. 43 to 52 below.
The Suppression of the Arms Traffic from Muscat.
7. At the beginning of the period a general prohibition of the arms
traffic was in force on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. littoral save in Muscat. The Sultan
of Muscat had prohibited in 1891 the import or export of arms and
ammunition to or from Gwadur, his dependency on the Persian littoral
of the Gulf. In 1898 11 is Highness had agreed to prohibit the export of
arms from Muscat to India and Persia (where the import of arms was illegal),
and had empowered Persia and Great Britain to act on his behalf by sea in
enforcing this prohibition .within Muscat territorial waters. In 1903 he had
further agreed to the search by British and Italian ships of Muscat vessels
on the high seas suspected of carrying arms. But the import of arms into
Muscat, and their export, except to India and Persia, were still unprohibited
in 1908.