'Selection from Correspondence Relative to the Traffic in Arms in the Persian Gulf, 1897-98. Part II' [‎45r] (35/52)

No. 15.
Enclosures in Eoreign Office letter of 27th June 1898.
Sir M. Durand to the Marquess of Salisbury.
No. 77. Gulehek,
My Lord, 1st June 1898.
I have received from Colonel Meade, Her Majesty’s Consul-General Political
at Bushire, a copy of a report on the traffic in arms, and the steps taken for 2079/98.
its suppression, which has, I understand, already been sent direct to your
Lordship. To this report I have little to add.
There can be no doubt whatever that the wholesale importation of arms
of precision into Persia is dangerous to the peace of the country, and
consequently injurious to our trade, and it may in time prove to be a
difficulty with which the Persian Government will find it has not the power
to cope.
I think the Sadr-i-Azam should he supported in taking stringent measures
to put an end to the import, and that the firms 'which have suffered from
the confiscation of their illicit cargoes should be left to bear the loss. It is
true that the import had been allowed to go on in spite of the prohibition,
hut the firms concerned seem to have known quite well that they were doing
what they had no right to do. They chose to run the risk, and have
doubtless made large profits. There is no serious hardship in their now
being left to suffer some loss.
As an illustration of what I have said on this point, I attach an extract
from a letter written by Messrs. Livingstone and Company to the Consul-
General at Bushire on 30th October 1896.
I have, &c..
The Marquess of Salisbury, K.G., (Sd.) H. M. Durand.
&c. &c. &c.
Enclosure in above.
Messrs. Livingstone, Muir, & Co., to the Consul-General, Bushire.
(Extract.) Bushire,
30th October 1896.
Hajee Naseer Behahani, a merchant of Bushire, ordered from Livingstone,
Muir, and Company, in May 1895, 300 Martini rifles for delivery at Muscat,
but subsequently cancelled same and they were left on Livingstone, Muir,
and Company’s hands.
Livingstone, Muir, and Company shipped 250 of the said rifles to Muscat
per steamship “ Zulu ” in May 1896.
In April 1896 the first of a series of meetings had taken place at the
house of Hajee Agha Mahomed Dedashti the Mointujar, who had offered to
act as intermediary in settling a dispute regarding wheat accounts between
Livingstone, Muir, and Company and Hajee Naseer Bebahaui, and at the
meeting above referred to Mr. Muir was asked by the Mointujar that he
should pay the equivalent of any balance his firm might be found to owe to
Hajee Naseer in rifles (delivered in Bushire) which were to he shipped per
“Zulu,” and the Mointujar promised to find a buyer for the remainder.
Mr. Muir expressed himself inclined to consent to the proposed arrangement,
hut no precise terms were discussed, the basis of the proposition being that
the matters in dispute should be first settled in order to arrive at the amount
to be paid to Hajee Naseer.
In a subsequent private interview which Mr. Muir had with the Mointujar
the latter promised to get him an undertaking from His Highness the
Hissam-i-Sultani, that the guns which were to arrive at Muscat, as well as
any future imports, would not be seized should they be brought on to
Bushire instead of being landed at Muscat. Meantime the meetings in the
Moin’s house continued to take place.
Subsequently the Mointujar sent for Mahmoud Ibn Hajee Baker, the
principal Persian employee of Livingstone, Muir, and Company, and asked