'File 13/3 Arms Traffic' [‎253v] (506/608)

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wi\en the arms were not
insisted on searching: five h
destined for Kuwait),
rtre vessels\ hound from
Kuivait, causin" in the sea rch very serious loss and
and\ vessels
hav
and merely
1% Majesty’s ships lately
Malabar and Yemen to
linage to the cargoes
fact which he would
•arch.
•roving the\ absence of arms,
been prepared to guarantee personally without any
The vessels belofig to four Vif the most respectable and substantial
merefaants of Kuwait, threelbeing personally known to mevas unlikely to risk
their Vships in the arms trade and tNeir arrival in tliC last two days, with
highlyycoloured stories of the\searches to\which they were subjected, has caused
a consiuerable amount of ill-
4 .'. The Shaikh called ©n me yesterday and gave mY the gist of each
complamt. 1 replied that I hWl no information as yet, but he\must he aware
that IIis Majesty’s ships were now employed in a strenuous endeavour to
annihilate the traffic that th<W would not have undertaken\ the labour of
searching large over-sea vessels without some definite information which their
experience had shown them comld not be yverified without a most thorough
search. If there had been damage or loss in\the process, I was prepared to take
detailed statements and, as thd vessels had\ been proved to be\innocuous, to
forward their claims with rejpommendations towards compensation. Ihe
Shaikh who was exceedingly angry said that it was not the search so much,
search 1 to which he objectefl as the apparent absence of all Consideration
for the cargo and vessels, the callous disregard\of all protests madetby respect
able men in the vessels, and the loss of prestige which he himseljv in spite of
all his effort to assist the BritishlGovernment,{suffered. As the titaikh went
so far as to speak of repudiating Ibis obligations under his arms aglreem^nt of
May 1900 , I, perceived that argument was useless until his temper had had
some time to\cool and the interview therefore closed.
hope of finding him in a more reasonable
is people should huve been
ore lucid accbunt of what is saiaVto have
was searched, \ whilst there was cbnsider-
‘ damage resulted to her, that another had
amaged to a mCre or less extent, toYrepair
000 , that all had their cargo shifted, and
rt lost, part damaged, &c., of the extent
intil the cargoes\are discharged and ^om-
of
ideavoured to otwain his
recognitioi
5 . To-dky I visited him in t
frame of mina and on expressing
put to any lois drew from him a
occurred. It ippears that one vesse]
able sea-running and a good deal
her dinghy broken up, that all were
which it is estimated will cost, Rs.
returned without regard to stownge,
of which no estimate can be made
pared with the bills of Lading. I el
the case for thelother side, who were Lot in a position io differentiate as to)
reliability or otherwise of the word ot particular owners or nakhodas,
would certainly \ not have undertakeri a very laborioik search without wllat
must have appeared to them good reliable informatiorY who could not |e
responsible for the weather prevailing at the time, and wlV) after all were onl
acting in virtue! of the Shaikh’s own agreement with ourselves, and who, si
far from showingytheir want of appreciation of the Shaikh’s efforts at assist^
ance in the prohibition of the arms tVaffic, had hitherto in reliance on
co-operation been! able to pass Kuwain dhows with a much less rigorous’
investigation than! others. Eventually Wie Shaikh admitted grudgingly that
there were two sipes to the question, aneft we arranged for tYe nakhodas to be
sent to me to recird their statements ai^d a more detailed report will be
tl\is respect.
articularly incensed t\ie Shaikh is thatXthe five vessels
S 3 belong to flhe most respectable andUeading men in tbeYplace, that he
own word has been doubted, that hejjs now subject to Recriminations
g been (so tolspeak) deluded by the Rritish Government mto assisting
1st voluntarilV making matters difficult for his own sub\ects in the
arms without any compensating quid\>ro quo in the wayVf securing
n the molestation by British men-of-war to which other oh*aft have
t, and that l»s enemies in Basra and elsewhere will Sf\ze on the
to ridicule himifor his blind faith in British fair-dealing.
[ have seldom sien the Shaikh so movetx and the fact that Mie feels
ir and good faiq|i have been impugnedvand that he fancies\ie has
submitted later in
6. What has