'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.' [‎178v] (361/386)

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No. 74 (Secret—External), dated Fort William, the 31st March 1904.
From—The Government of India in the Foreign Department,
To—The Right Hon’ble St. John Brodrick, His Majesty's Secretary of State for
India.
We have the honour to forward, for your information, copies of the corre
spondence noted in the schedule annexed, regarding our commercial interests
at Katif. Prior to the Ottoman occupation of El Hassa, a flourishing settle
ment of Indian traders carried on business at this port. In 1874 the place
became the head-quarters of a Turkish Kaimmakam ; a Customs House was
instituted; and official regulations have since been so used, or rather abused, as
to destroy the British trade which had previously been established. An export
duty of 1 per cent, has practically been converted into one of 8 per cent, by the
demand that a deposit of this amount should be made on the value of all dates
exported. This exaction was ostensibly intended to prevent the diversion of
cargo to the Persian coast, exports to which were previously chargeable with a
duty calculated at that rate. Every possible difficulty appears, however, to have
been placed in the way of obtaining a refund even on proof of the goods having
reached a British destination. Bemonstrances have from time to time been
lodged with the responsible Turkish officials. In 1899 Colonel Meade, our
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , reported that, as the result of a protract
ed correspondence, the refund had been procured of a sum of Rs. 5,012-9 0, out
of a total amounting apparently to some Rs. 15,000, which certain traders had
been required to deposit in accordence with the practice which we have noticed.
But the abuse has not been checked.
2. Other complaints which have been received have charged the local
officials with deliberately hampering Indian traders by delays in Custom House
formalities, by prohibition of the supply of transport, and by the use of
quarantine regulations as a pretext for the detention of Indian craft which had
been clear of infected ports for periods entitling them to exemption from
restraint even under the most rigid sanitary rules. In 1900, Colonel Meade’s
successor forwarded correspondence which showed that the bania Merchant of Indian extraction. community
flt Katif had been reduced from one of 70 or 80 persons to a single trader, and
that a party of those who were still desirous of carrying on business at the port
had furnished the clearest evidence of the harassment to wffiich they had been
subjected by expressing their willingness to pay in advance the cost of main
taining a British Agent to protect their interests on the spot. In view of the
antagonism with the Turks into which we had been brought in other parts of
the Gulf, we deemed it inadvisable at the time to propose an attempt to obtain
the recognition by the Porte of a British representative at Katif. His Britannic
Majesty s Consul, however, brought the complaints which had been made to
the notice of the M ali of Basrah, who undertook to issue instructions to the
Aaimmakam to remove the disabilities under which British traders laboured.
Later reports show that these representations have been ineffectual. In 1903
we were informed that our traders still found difficulty in obtaining refunds
of deposits, and we have recently heard that illegal dues are still exacted in
spite of the exemption of exports to Persia from the duty which previously
formed the pretext for such demands. The majority of the sufferers sailed
straight tor their destination as soon as they had cleared their cargoes, and
precise figures are not, therefore, available, but it is stated that a sum of about
Rs. 2o 000 was wrongfully extorted from British traders in respect of dates
slnpped during the season of ly03. During the Viceroy’s recent tour in the
Pereian Gulf the British Indian merchants of Bahrein renewed, in a petition
to His Excellency, their request for the appoinment of a British representative
to protect their interests at Katif. •
• ?y e tllin k a good case has been made out for such a step, the
simplest form of which would probably be to appoint our Assistant Political
Agent at Bahrein Vice-Consul for El Hassa, and to station a native Consular
Agent at Katif. Should His Majesty’s Government be unwilling to take action
on this sense, we can only suggest that a clear statement should be made to the
roria oi the usabilities to which our traders have been subjected inorder tha