'ملف رقم 9/50 (B 16) حادث دبي' [و‎‎١‎٩‎٦] (٤٩٢/٤٠٥)

The subject of this file is connected with the question of the establishment of a telegraph
■tefaon at Zora, and has wmamed with me with that file, which was awaiting the rfplies
of His Majesty s Secretary of State m connection with the proposed despatch of troops to
the Gulf (vide my note on the Zora Telegraph Station file).
, The Secrctary of State asks the Government of India's views on the policy of extension
of Bntish responsibilities in regard to the Trucial Coast, and my views on the point are
It seems to me that an extension of our responsibilities is being forced upon us in the
inevitable course of political development in the Gulf, and tnat we cannot help acceptincr it
Dotwitbstanding the inconveniences which are undoubtedly entailed, '
(i) The first sign of the times was the decision a few years back of the British India
Company to make Dtbai a port of (.all. This was due to the fact that owing
to the harshness of the Belgian customs and the new Persian tariff at Liugah,
Lingaa trade was diverted to Debai. Debai now became concerned in the
mail and quarantine systems of the Gulf ports.
(ii) We moved as little as we possibly could ia regard to both matters; a rough and
informal arrangement for receipt and despatch of letters being introduced
(much against the backward Shaikh^s inclinations), while in regard to
quarantine we made no attempt to saddle ourselves %vith responsibility.
There is, however, constant complaint from the Indian trading community and the
Post Office authorities regarding the postal arrangements, while in the quarantine connec
tion it will be remembered that Debai and Shargah were visited by a very severe epidemic
plague in the spring with which we had no means ^n the spot, cf coping.
In this connection we have informed the Tehran Sanitary Council, in order to forestall
criticism, that the question of the sanitary supervision of the Trucial Coast is under the
lively consideration of the Government of India. The coast will certainly want careful
watching this spring and a recrudescence is very probable.
(iii) The facility of communication afforded by the regular call of the mail steamer has
brought a good many European visitors to the coast, bot:i English and
Foreign, and such persons now want to sojourn there for trade in pearls, oyster
shells, &c., and look to us for facilities and assisiance, and believe themselves
to b6 under quasi-British piotection while there.
(iv) Owing to our action at Maskat and on the Mekran Coast, the bulk of the arms-
smuggling has come up into the Persian Gulf, and the barren snd secluded
tracts of the Trucial Coast prove to be safe jumping-cff places for the arms-
smugglers with their consignments brought overland from Ma.skat or Sohar.
This development necessitates closer supervision of the coast.
The fact is that although to the world in general, so far as it is interested, we claim to
manage these Trucial Shaikhs and maintain their independent status against outsiders, our
own status for doing so and our machinery for handling them are crude and defective.
The system worked all right when there were no European foreigners in the Gulf and
things moved ranch slower than they do now—but as things are our position is unsatisfactory
and the weak points of it are at once made evident, when we are brought into contact
with a Foreign Government, as m the Abu Mnsa ease for instance,
I agree that we want to handle these Trucial Coast nettles as adroitly as we can 7 but
am convinced that they have to be grasped.
At present we are only contemplating a wireless station; we can see how that project
works. Probably it will not be long before we stait a regular visit on the part of an agent,
and then the next step will be a simple Order in Council.
The only alternative I see is to ask the British India Steam Navigation Co. to cease
their call at Debai and thus to endeavour to divert Debai trade back to Lingah, but this would
l>e such a retrograde step that I bardJy like even to suggest it, *
P. Z. Cox,—6-2-12.
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