"ملف ٢٠/٨: شؤون دولة مسقط: احتجاج العمانيين" [و‎‎١‎٦‎٦] (٦٣٤/٣٣١)

Additions! note of Zskst question.
Two confidentiel demi-officisl letters one dfted 3Cth
September 1914 and the other 2Cth of July 1915 go at some
length into the question raised by the imposition of an extra
Zekabss a punitive measure. It will be seen from these that
whatever the rights or the wrongs of the matter there is general
agreement that provided due warning is given British merchant
anticipates loss whatever increase is imposed. This is a candid
admission of their power to fix the price they like and of the
powerlessness of the Omanis to stand out against the price.
Dry dates must be exported as the Omani does not consume
them, and the less he gets for them the more anxious he will
be that an agreement should be arrived at which increases his
purchasing power. Equally the best v/et dates must be exported
to America and the Omanis must sell at whatever price the
dealers ask. It is just possible that the trade in inferior
wet dates may diminish but this is not important and in any
case it is temporary, as a natural condition of an agreement
will be the reduction of the Zekat to the original 5%.
In my opinion it is not likely that the general import
trade will suffer. Through the restriction of import of
essential commodities from India prices have risen enormously,
rice as I am well aware being sold at a profit in many cases
of 100$ • This is stifficient proof that the Omanis are
prepared to pay almost anything for commodities which they
regard as essential, and are not in the least likely to be
deterred by the balance of trade going against them owing to
rising prices of the commodities they import. They will try
and reduce this adverse balance ( and the only way they can do
this is by an agreement) but they will still continue to
purchase. The Omanis like all Arabs have very great purchasing
power. In fact the purchasing pov/er of the smell communities
in face of rising prices is a remarkable phenomenon of the war.
In addition the rise in the value of the dollar must be
remembered