"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٥‎٨‎٦] (١٢٦٢/١١٠٣)

2586
might in the future be tempted to import rifles on his own account from
Masqat^ he was induced on the 8th of July to execute an agreement
that he would not do so without reference to the British authorities in
-Baluchistan. This was, however, a matter of internal administration
and did not at all affect the arms trade in its wider aspects.
Present policy of the British Government and position of the
trade, 1907.
Recommen
dations of
the Govern
ment of
India and
orders of His
Majesty's
Government,
1907.
Statement of
the situation
in 1907.
In February 1907, the inadequacy of local preventives and palliatives
having become very apparent, the Government of India, in an exhaustive
despatch to the Secretary of State which was supported by full evidence of
the dangerous growth of the trade, reverted to their proposals of 1902-1903
and again recommenced the closure by international agreement of the
Masqat market as the only complete and satisfactory solution of the arms
trade question. Various methods were also suggested by which, after
agreement with Turkey, a check might be applied to the influx of arms
and ammunition into Kuwait and the Turkish possessions on the Persian
Gulf; but these were expressly declared to be of secondary importance.
The reply of His Majesty^s Government, received in the following
April, indicated that the time was not propitious for the negotiations
proposed by the Government of India, but that suitable instructions
would be given to the British Plenipotentiaries at an international Arms
Conference which was to be held at Brussels early in 1908.
The present situation is therefore as follows. Since 1902 the arms
trade has been nominally prohibited at every port, except Masqat, in
the Gulfs of Persia and "'Oman ; but smuggling and connivance at
breaches of the law are so universally prevalent that arms and ammuni
tion continue to be distributed from Masqat over the length and breadth
of the Gulf region, and a brisk and regular trade in arms has sprung up
between Masqat and Afghanistan. The importations at Masqat, though
the small local demand of the 'Oman Sultanate must long since have
been satisfied, are still on the same scale as before the general prohibition
of the trade in 1902; but they now represent the whole, or nearly the
whole, instead of a part only of the trade. It has been proved, at the
cost of an immense expenditure of energy by British establishments, that
the illegal dissemination of arms from the free port of Masqat cannot
be prevented, or even appreciably hindered, by naval means; also that
measures, however efficacious, taken in British Baluchistan do not and
cannot influence the course of the Afghan traffic; while officers who
have studied the question on the spot in Persia agree that the Govern
ment of that country are incapable, however much they may desire to do
so, of putting down the trade across Persia between Masqat and
Afghanistan.
. -J- 11 Middle East, where, besides intensifying anarchy and bloodshed
in Central Arabia and in some of the smaller states, it has weakened
the authority of the Persian and Turkish Governments and threatens