"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٥‎٢‎٣] (١٧٨٢/٦٦٦)

ttneatiad;
^ wdlli.,
5 Stii
Commercial
questions.
523
British subjects proper. Various other matters connected with status and
jurisdiction were settled during the reign of Turki.
Commercial discussions in the reign of Turki related largely to the sea
customs, which were, and are, the tinancial mainstay of the "'Oman State.
In 1867 a concession had been obtained from the Sultan of the day
in favour of the British India Steam Navigation Company, by which only
one-eighth ot the legal transhipment duty of 5 per cent, should be charged,
or, if the goods were landed for transhipment, a rebate of seven-eighths
should be allowed on resbipment. In 1871 a movement was made by the
Company to obtain the iotal abolition, in so far as they were concerned, of
transhipment duty; and in 187a the Sultan consented to forego all
duty upon transiipments of Gulf cargo, if made without landing the
goods, for Aden or Zanzibar. A test case, which occurred in 1874, showed
that this exemption was not intended by the Sultan to apply to goods
taken ashore pending transhipment.
In a letter, dated the 10th of February 1875, a wider application was
given by the Sultan to the concession, *granted by his father in
1846, in respect of the dues on cargo landed from damaged vessels and
subsequently reshipped.
' Various questions of taxation, also, were agitated from time to time. In
1872, a system of manifests and reports for vessels entering and leaving
the harbour of Masqat having been introduced by the Sultan in order
to meet the wish of the British authorities for shipping statistics, a
fixed fee of |-2 per manifest and a graduated fee of Re. I per 50 tons of
cargo began to be levied under his orders, The Resident was inclined to
think that these proceedings were partly at variance with the terms of the
Commercial Treaty of 1839, but he was instructed that no exception need
be taken to the new charges unless the rates were increased, and that it
would he enough to remind the Sultan of Article 9 of the Treaty.
In 1877 weighment dues, instituted by Sa'id early m his icign, and
wharfage dues, instituted by Turki in 1873, were found to e.xiht at
Masqat. The amounts of both were moderate ; but the Sultan, on the
matter being mentioned to him, issued a notice making the pay men. o
either charge optional in the case of British Indian subjects.
In 1880 some Banyans, relying on Article 10 of the Commercial Tieaty
protested against a monopoly of dyeing silk for the Arab market which
brought $2,000 or 13,000 a year into the Sultan's treasury ; but the
Government of India thought that there was no need to interfere wi
this long-established arrangement. ,
* yide page 467 ante.
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