'File 35/87 VI A. 38 Muscat reforms, customs, finances' [‎67r] (141/440)

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General ITote on the Trade and Statistics of Onan«
The Trade of pnan in nornal y^ars should h© more or loss
constant provided there has boon a roanonahle amount of
rain to enable the date orop to raature and nrovided there
have not been undue fluctuations in the price of silver,i.e.
the rate of exchange has not been subject to sudden variations
The exports of dates, fruit, fish and. firewood govern th©
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imports of necessities such as rice, v;heat, cotton goods and
coffee which form the bulk of the trade#
The suppression of the arms - traffic and the unlikelihood,
of any important industries springing up preclude the
probability of any considerable increase in trade®
The scarcity of water curtails the development of agri
culture and the absence of pearl banks off the coast of
Oman or atleast of poarl banks at depths workable by naked
divers -deprives Muscat of the chief source of wealth of
places in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Bahrain, Kuwait, Dubai etc*)*
During the last year or two there has been considerable
activity by oil prospectors in various ^orts of Arabia but
I believe the possibility of finding oil wells in Oman which
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could be worked profitably has not yet been properly investi
gated by experts*
Similarly, but probably with less chance of success, the
other mineral resources of Oman have not been surveyed at
all thoroughlyo
On the west coast of India-Malabar and South and North
Canara - there is an expensive trade in fish manure which
is largely used on coffee estates in Ceylon and elsewhere*
I do not know whether the shoals of sardines etc« would be
worth working hero for oil and fish manure but if there are
suitable beaches along the coast there should be no difficul
ty in drying large quantities of fish. Salting fish for China
or other markets has, I am told, been tried but the catches