'File 35/85 III A 10 French Flag Question' [‎248r] (518/610)

00248
Eft regard t.o t.he refplacement/ of existing dhows by
authorised flagholders, I suggest. "Ghat,, now t.hat. there is a
prospect, of t»he number and names of such persons being defini
tely established, that all question of their possessing any
right of exterritoriality which would exempt them from the
jurisdiction of their lawful sovereign has been removed, and
that the authorisations,, at the most,,, are peculiar to the per
sons concerned during their lifetime only and are not to be
inherited,, it does not sum to matter very much either from the
point of view of His Highness the Sultan or from that of His
Majesty's Government whether the authorisation is held to be
general,, and a limited number of dhows allowed to be maintained
and replaced during the lifetime of each owner4, or whether the
authorisation is held to be strictly limited to specific dhows.
Not only does a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. ordinarily last for a large number of years
but it must be remembered that it would be extremely difficult
for His Highness to prove to the satisfaction of the French
Consul that any particular vessel had ceased to exist and had
been replaced- Every effort would be made not only by the
owner himself but also by the French officials on his behalf to
conceal the fact,, and it would not be likely that the Sultan
would care to proceed against the owner without substantial'
proof of his guilt, for more reasons than one. Qn the other
hand the death of an owner is impossible to conceal for any
length of time, and His Highness would have no difficulty in
punishing any subject of his in whose possession one of the
deceased man's dhows was found should it be sailing under a
French flag. For these as well as other reasons I beg respect-
fully to reiterate the suggestion Submitted for consideration
in my telegram of January ith.
5- Monsieur Laronce informs me that he has not yet
received all the information respecting the French list which
^he Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said was still awaited
80 ae0 aS HOVember 8tt - « ^ Majesty's Government are
prepared to accept the list put in by the a-ench with their
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