File 4011/1923 Pt 1 'PERSIAN GULF NEGOTIATIONS 1928-33. BASIDU.' [‎44v] (93/1306)

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admittedly ,i^)
S ° fa The terms K icle'6 of ‘this agreement quoted above appear to furnish
imnortant evidence of the fact that the somewhat vaguely-phrased original grant
of P l 820 (uarlmaph 21 of Paper B) quoted above was not in the nature of a >
revocable lease but was intended to be a grant in perpetuity
revocable lease t of Bandar Abbas and its dependencies referred to ,n
ib) above which was for twenty years, came to an ench A fresh lease was granted
hv Persia To amember of the Muscat ruling family, but as a dependent of Persia
anH not as reuresenting that family. The lessee not having complied with his
and not as rep . ,7 h Persian Government made preparations in 1868
St r Wm. lea At this stage the Sultan of Muscat demanded, under
threats of force, that the lease should be made over to him. He was prevented
bv His Maiesty’s Government from using forcible measures against I ersia, and
as the result of British mediation, a fresh lease for eight years of Bandar Abbas
and its dependencies (again including specifically Qishm) was granted by Persia,
in 1868 to the then Sultan of Muscat and his descendants. The lease was on
the same general lines as the re-lease of 1855 referred to in (b) above. It was
however, more specific, both in the obligations which it imposed on the lessee, and
in its enumeration of the territories covered by it. The lease, however, contained,
like the re-lease of 1855, no reference to Basidu. But its thirteenth and
r»o n o c
“ 13th.
“So long as Bandar Abbas and the above-mentioned two islands
[Qishm and Hormuz] and Shumeel and Minab and their dependencies are
in the hands of the Imam of Muscat, he should not allow otlicers of other
Governments to go there. His Highness should protect these places by sea
and land, providing for every port having an anchorage some ships, bughlas,
and other vessels of war.
“ He should protect all the boundaries of the above places from all
interference and intrusion of strangers, whether under friendlv pretext or
otherwise. He should not, under any circumstances, allow any foreign ship,
bughla, or man-of-war, the property of an Arab or Arabs, or of any foreign
Power, whether with or without ammunition, to anchor within the limits
of the anchorage ground of the said territories.”
“ 14th.
“ His Highness the Imam of Muscat, notwithstanding these conditions,
has no right to let the said Bandar Abbas and the said places to any other
Government, but His Highness should, according to these conditions, send
one of his own people or servants to manage Bandar Abbas and the aforesaid
places, who must act according to the terms of these conditions.”
As will be seen, the articles quoted, like articles 13 and 14 of the re-lease of
1855 (which they reproduce and amplify), are difficult to reconcile with the
continued maintenance, without protest from Persia, of a British naval station,
continually used by British forces, at Basidu in the Island of Qishm. But no
protest of any kind against the retention of that station or the use of its anchorage
by His Majesty s armed forces appears to have been made by Persia; nor, when
on the deposition of the Sultan of Muscat at the end of 1868 the lease was auto
matically determined, and fresh leases of the same areas (including the Island
of Qishm) were made by the Persian Government to Persian subjects, was an}
attempt made, as far as can be traced, to object to the presence of the British
concession, or to exercise jurisdiction, or collect taxes, within its area.
(/) Between 1863 and 1868 the local Persian authorities appear on at least
two occasions, but without success, to have asked for the surrender of fugitives
rom justice who had taken refuge in the British concession. On no occasion do
hey appeal to ha\e endeavoured to claim or enforce any rights within that
concession. J
(y) ^ 1005 the coal agent at Basidu was instructed to inform a Persian
customs officer who had interfered that he had “ no business in British territory,
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