'Selection from Correspondence Relative to the Traffic in Arms in the Persian Gulf, 1897-98. Part II' [‎30r] (5/52)

48
Correspondence relative to the Traffic in Arms in the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
Part II. {in continuation of Print dated 2§th April 1898).
No. 1.
Enclosures in Eoreign Office Letter of 9th April 1898.
(Selection.) A.
Her Britannic Majesty’s 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. and Consul, Maskat, to the Officer
Commanding H.M.S. il Lapwing.”
No. 38 of 1898. Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and Consulate,
Sir, Maskat, 25th January 1898.
In reply to your letter* of 24th instant, I have the honour to inform
# Not printed. y ou that I have examined the papers of
the S.S. “ Baluchistan,” which you seized
on the 24th instant at 7 a.m., and I find that the seizure was in accordance
with the orders of Her Majesty’s Government, and that that portion of the
cargo which you have seized and deposited in my custody was properly
seized in accordance with those orders.
The seizure wag made by H.M.S. “Lapwing” solely in the territorial
waters of His Highness the Sultan of Maskat and in accordance with his
proclamation of the 13th instant.
I have, &c.,
G. Eagan,
Her Britannic Majesty’s 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.
and Consul, Maskat.
Officer Commanding
H.M.S. “Lapwing,” K.N., Maskat Harbour.
B.
Extract from general letter from H.M.S. “ Sphinx,” No. 4 of
11th February 1898.
H.M.S. “ Sphinx ” at Muscat,
11th February 1898.
******
I will now proceed to give you my impressions and ideas on the state of
affairs. Muscat, being what is called a free port, has been an emporium for
arms for some time past. Merchants at Bushire have local agents here,
chiefly Bunias, who reship the arms to their order, to various ports and
places in the Gulf. Native merchants in Kuweit and Bunder Abbas, for
instance, have agents at Muscat, and they often come down themselves and
take the arms away, either by a buggala, or, in the case of Bunder Abbas, by a
British Indian steamer even, very probably in the latter case the arm chest
would be remarked as containing “ hardware.”
I have often spoken to the different agents who have been here on this
subject, but they never apparently took any interest in the matter, and, at
any rate, did not see their way to putting a stop to it, although they may
have represented it. The larger annual increase of arms imported was men
tioned and noted in their official trade reports, and that large numbers were
res nipped to the Oman and Pirate Coasts, and also to Persia by native craft,
but no mention is made of any going direct to the Mekran Coast. The
Sultan, of course, reaped a very considerable benefit from Custom dues owing
to this large import, indirectly though, as his customs are farmed out to two
Bunias.
S. 13. A
Political
No. 1903/98.