File 4535/1928 Pt 8 ‘ – PERSIAN GULF – QUESTION OF ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTECTORATES OVER KOWEIT, BAHREIN, MUSCAT, TRUCIAL COAST.’ [‎70v] (134/194)

1G
74. The geographical position of Gwadur would lend it considerable
importance in the event of an air route being established along the
Desp. to g. of i.. north Arabian coast, and 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 February 1927 proposed
p e i 575 . 1927 ’ that it should be purchased outright for, say, £135,000, or about 20 years’
purchase of the present customs revenue (Rs. 118,000 in 1920, say Rs. 1 lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
after deduction of expenses of collection) as a British possession, the
Khan of Kalat being compensated for his claim out of the amount in
question. No opinion on the matter has been expressed by the Government
of India. But, as in the case of Khassab and the Musandim Promontory
(para. 71 above), the extent to which His Majesty’s Government are free
agents vis-d-vis France would need very careful examination before a
decision could be taken even were the proposal held to be free from
objection on other grounds.
Pol. Res. to G. of I.,
Feb. 23 1923,
P. 1151/23.
C.o. to I.O..
May 22 1925. &c.,
P. 1589/25.
(d) Oil in Muscat.
75. The Sultan undertook in February 1923 not to exploit any oil which
might be found in his territories, or to grant permission for its exploitation,
without prior consultation with 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 the approval of the
Government of India. An oil concession w’as secured from His Highness,
with the approval of Flis Majesty’s Government, by the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company in 1925. (The general question of oil in the Gulf is dealt with in
the Memorandum by the Board of Trade on p. |5jj)
VII.—Summary.
76. The last 20 years have seen the practical elimination of French
influence in Muscat and the consolidation of the influence of His Majesty’s
Government. Despite the fact that the Sultanate is independent, a very
close degree of indirect control has been established ; the succession has
been regulated ; the customs administration has been brought under the
management of officials recommended by the Government of India; a
European adviser, a servant indeed of the Sultan, but recommended and
selected by the Government of India, and working in close and friendly
co-operation with 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. , is the mainspring of the adminis
tration; the arms traffic has disappeared, and, thanks to the active
intervention, both political and otherwise, of His Majesty’s Government,
a working arrangement has been reached with the rebellious tribes of
the interior of Oman. The main difficulties which at the moment confront
the State are the instability of the Sultan's character, and the possibility
that before a suitable successor is available he may renew his desire to
abdicate; the financial situation, which is complicated by the need for
expenditure on essential improvements, the fact that the main source of
additional revenue—increase of customs duties cannot without great
difficulty be tapped, and the necessify of repayment to the Government of
India of the balance of the loan made to the State in 1919 : and the problem,
the importance of which cannot at this stage be appraised, but which may
not prove to be serious, of the attitude of the tribes of Sur.
77. The direct intervention in the affairs of Muscat of His Majesty’s
Government has been very definitely in the interests of the State, and, so far
as those interests are concerned, it is desirable that it should be maintained.
At the same time, so long as the treaties at present in force between the
Sultan and the Governments of France, Holland and the United States
continue to subsist, there can be no question of the establishment of a formal
protectorate, even should wider objections of principle not be held to militate
against the acceptance of such a policy.
From the narrower point of view of the interests of His Majesty’s
Government and the Government of India, there is no less advantage in a
maintenance of the status quo, under which control in everything but name
rests with His Majesty’s Government. With the gradual elimination of British
authority from the south Persian coast and with the adoption, for however long
it may be maintained, of an active policy in the Gulf by Persia, the strangle
hold on the Gulf w hich the effective control of Muscat constitutes has assumed
an importance, more especially in view of British commitments in Iraq, which
it did not in the past present. Moreover, not only is effective, if veiled,