'ملف رقم 9/50 (B 16) حادث دبي' [و‎‎١‎١‎٦] (٤٩٢/٢٤٢)

No. 1112, dated Busbire, tbe 30th April (received 8th May) 1911 (Confidential).
Prom -LWTIMI -COICJNEI P. Z. Cox. C.S .I., O.I.E, Political Eesidont'in the
To—The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
At the conclusion of my letter No. 87 of the 8th of January, on the
subject of the Dehai incident, 1 stated that I sbould shortly be visiting the
Trucial Coast again in connection with the Abu Musa case, and would then
have an opportunity of gauging the effect of recent events on the public
mind. I have since carried out the visit and now beg to lav the follow! tip-
before the Government of India.
2. On the coast generally I found conditions perfectly normal and the
untowaid incident at Debai appears to have had no harmful reaction on the
rulers or the inhabitants of the other principalities. The Shaikhs themselves
were as usual principally concerned with their own individual interests and
wants and if they did take the trouble to make any enquiries from me reo-ardino
Debai affairs it was with an air of deference and detachment. Thev would
ask, for instance : Did Government intend to appoint a British officer' for the
coast ? When was the telegraph station to be installed ? and so on.
3. At Debai itself, outwardly and commercially, the position appeared to
be quite normal. When I landed the usual friendly or curious crowd was
collected on the beach, and the life of the port seemed to be pursuing
the even tenour of its way; one heavily laden steamer had just discharged
Cargo, and left; another was discharging during my sojourn, and the British
India Steam Navigation Co.'s Agent at Lingah informed me a day or two
Jater of the fact that the Company's steamers were at present taking more
cargo to Debai than usual. The community of petty Persian traders, who,
subsequent to the visit of the Admiral and myself, had temporarily betaken
themselves to Lingah and Bandar Abbas,—after sending a mendacious
round robin to various vernacular papers,—had all returned and were again
plying their accustomed callings. The British Indians, too, seemed to have
quite forgotten the events of two months airo and were solely concerned with
the settlement of their petty commercial claims. The only concrete vestige
of the recent outbreak lay in the fact that the relations of the last Shaikh of
Debai, Makhtoom bin Hashar, who have always been a thorn in the side of
the present ruler, and who had openly attributed the trouble with His
Majesty's ship to the ineptitude of Shaikh Butti's rule and averred that it
could never have happened under the regime of their deceased kinsman, still
yemained in camp at an oasis 7 or 8 miles inland. They were, however, ex
pected to return after my visit, and I have no doubt have done so ere this.
Meanwhile, their presence can well be spared.
So much for the general situation at Debai.
4. The attitude of the Chief himself.
The main difficulty throughout has been the unreliable personality and
self-satisfied incompetence of Shaikh Butti bin Sohail. I do not think that in
the abstract he has any wish to be otherwise than on cordial terms with
Government and their representative, but provided always that he be left alone
to enjoy what revenue falls in his way and be not asked to take any tiresome
measures to prevent his subjects conducting themselves in any truculent way
they please. If he is asked to take any action at all inconvenient to himself
or to assert his authority as ruler in any particular manner, he has always
failed to do so except under the strongest pressure. As an indication of his
natural attitude of mind I may quote the following recent instance ;—
As the Government of India are aware, it was the inauguration of the
oppressive Persian tariff of 1903 in the Persian ports which made it possible
for Debai to supplant Lingah as a distributing centre of merchandise for the
Arab coast. This was facilitated by the intelligent policy of the late ruler.
Shaikh Makhtoom, who made Debai a free port as far as customs duty was
concerned and contented himself with the levy of a warehouse or wharfage fee