'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎144v] (293/386)

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to dispute. I will take for instance the time in which I have been connected
with the Government of India, namely, the last five years. When I find that
during that period the British proportion of trade with the port of Mask at has
averaged 84 per cent., and that of the total number of steamers that have
entered and cleared from this port in the same time the average British
percentage in each year has been 97, I am satisfied that the predominance of
Great Britain in the mercantile interests of the State is supreme and incontest
able, and I realise that in addressing you I am receiving a body of gentlemen
who represent a not unimportant outpost of British commercial enterprise in
the East, and whose labours have contributed, and still contribute, in no small
degree, to the material welfare of Oman.
I am glad to heir from you that in the pursuit of these peaceful avocations
your interests are safeguarded by the successive Political Agents—.and hy none,
I am sure, more diligently than by Major Cox—who have been sent here to
represent the Government of India; that you obtain justice; that vou abstain
from litigation; and that you enjoy complete religious tolerance. These condi
tions are all favourable to the success of your operations, and they leave you
with little ground for complaint.
In one paragraph of your address you have spoken of the disturbances that
sometimes spring up in the interior, and which occasionally travel down to the
coast ports and affect the security of the places in which you reside. The British
Government hive never embroiled themselves in this internal strife, which
appears to he a hereditary legacy in Oman. But undoubtedly, if it were to
reach a point that seriously menaced the interests or imperilled the lives and
property of British subjects lawfully trading upon the coast, we should feel
called upon to intervene tor their protection, and by no one, lam sure, would
such intervention be more loyally welcomed, or more cordially assisted, than
by His Highness.
You have referred in your address to the depreciation in the local
exchange. This is a matter which I will take into consideration.
Gentlemen, I am obliged for the kind words in which you have welcomed
me to Maskat. I understand that among those who present the address are
representatives of other communities, such as the Portuguese of Goa, who enjoy
British protection in this State, To all of you I wish a continuance of the
conditions under which your trade exists and flourishes in Oman, and I rejoice
that there lias been presented to me the opportunity, while I am head of the
Government of India, of testifying the interest which I feel in this outlying
colony of Indian influence and trade.
It only remains for me to thank you for presenting your address in a speci
men of silver work so characteristic of the tastes and customs of the locality.
It will always he a memento to me of this agreeable meeting on the occasion of
my present visit to Maskat.
Enclosure II to 15.
Address by Eis Excellency the Viceroy at a Vublic Darbar 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). held on board
R. M. S, “ Argonaut ” at Maskat on the Idth November 1903, for Eis
Highness the Sultan and the notables of Maskat.
Your Eighness, Your Excellency an l Gentlemen,—Yom Highness has
already addressed me yesterday in terms of warm welcome to your Capital and
State ; and to day you have anticipated much of what I desired to say in the
speech which you have just spontaneously delivered, and in which you have
spoken in feeling language of the historic connection between the British
Government and the State of Oman.
It was Your Highness’s own great grandfather with whom the first Treaty
was concluded with the East India Company 105 years ago. As you have fur
ther reminded me, for more than a century has a British representative been,
stationed at Maskat; and during that time the friendly intercourse betw een the