'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency for the Years 1915-1919' [‎141r] (288/396)

FOR THE YEAE 1918.
47
CHAPTER VIII.
ADMINISTRATION HE PORT FOR THE MUSCAT AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOP
THE YEAR 1918.
Major L. B. H. Haworth, I.A., held charge of the office of Political
Personnel. A^ent and His Britannic Majesty's Consul
throughout the year.
The post of Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. Surgeon continued vacant.
The Senior Medical Officer, Bait-el-Ealaj, officiated in charge of the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
and Telegraph IStair. o j
Mr Siddiq Hasan vacated the post of Dragoman on appointment as
Indian Assistant at Bahrain m April. He was relieved by Mr. Ehtasham -ed-
Douleh.
Sub -Assistant Surgeon J. P. MascareiQias remained in charge of the
Hospital. Owing to the difficulty of finding any one willino- to come to
Muscat, it was found impossible to relieve him during the year. 3
Monsieur Jeannier who had been French Consul in Muscat for nearly 8
years died m September. Monsieur Mateudi, the Warr/nt Officer in charge of
tbe Prench coal godown, officiated as French Consul tin the end of the year
Shaikh Abdul Aziz-er-Ruwahi continued as Dragoman. He was absent for
some time on his properties in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Muawal.
At the close of the year 1917, the Omani national party under their elected
Condition Of country. Imam were in complete control of the
whole of Oman proper, Shaikh Nasir
bm-Hasmd, brother of the Imam, having been made Wali of the newly
conquered Port and area of Rostaq the Sultan ruled on. the coast line where
he could receive the protection of British support.
There were constant rumours of differences between the Omani leaders
for which there was possibly ground, but such differences do not affect their
general policy or the stability of their alliance.
Early in the war, probably in 1914, the Imam Salim bin Eashid-el-
Kharusi wrote to the Imam Yahya and to Said Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in Yemen askino- them
for assistance. In 1916 he again wrote to Yemen saying that he had written
the previous letter, but that as, according to Oman custom the letter had not
been signed or sealed, it perhaps had not been taken as authentic. It is the
Omani custom to state who is writing the letter but to put no seal, indeed
seals are possessed by few people.
In 1917 an answer was received by the Imam and he gave out that he was
expecting the arrival of 10,000 men from the Turks in Yemen, who it was
stated were to come by sea. Three messengers, from Yemen apparentlv
arrived in Oman having travelled by way of Mokalla and Sur.
In March it was reported that ttree Turkish Agents were travelling in
Oman trying to stir up the Omanis to attack the British. It was stated thaAhe
leaders of Oman had no desire to come to conflict with the British. If, as is
piesumed, these were the same people as those referred to in the precedino-
paragraph, it is certain that the arrival of their 10,000 men would be awaitecL
In the same month, Saiyid Nadir in the absence of the Sultan at Dhofar
arrested four men from the interior who had come down to Muscat. Two of
these men were connections of Shaikh Isa bin Salih and constant efforts have
been made to induce the Sultan to release them. The Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. was
approached in this reference also but refused to intervene as Shaikh Isa had
not agreed to meet him to discuss matters.
«
Shaikh Isa bin Salih and four headmen of the Hurth (tribe of el Harithi)
wrote to the Sultan letters on the subject w r hich were extraordinary in tone