'ملف 18/56 I (B 70) المرسوم الملكي البريطاني للساحل المتصالح؛ ملف 18/51 I (B 70) المرسوم الملكي البريطاني العثماني لعام ١٩١٠؛ ملف 18/131 I (B 70) المرسوم الملكي البريطاني الخاص بالولاية القضائية الأجنبية (القوات العسكرية) لعام ١٩٢٧' [ظ‎‎٤] (٢٥٠/١٩)

there will he no question of its erection before the beginning of next cold
"weather, so that we have several months before us in which to watch the
situation. „ „ «
10. In the meantime, I trust the Government of India will be pleased to
take into their wise consideration the whole question of our relations with these
Chiefs and the policy which we can best adopt towards them henceforward. I
venture to express the personal view that, although many inconveniences will
doubtless be attendant upon a tightening of our present easy control over them,
the march of events and the developments of the general political outlook
in the Gulf region make it advisable, and in any case will ultimately oblige
us to take definite action in that direction. Already foreign merchants,
e.g., Messrs. Wonckhaus, the German firm, Messrs. Rosenthal, the French
pearl dealers, and our own subjects Messrs. Gray Paul & Co. have either sent
or desired to send European representatives to embark in the trade of the
Trucial Coast; yet at present the Government of India, and the ResuJent as
their representative with the Trucial Shaikhs, possess inadequate constitutional
and legal equipment for the exercise oi functions which they may at^ny time
be called upon to perform. ^
In this connection the enaction of a simple Order in Council would now
seem called for.
11. But while, on the one hand, the disinclination of the Trucial Shaikhs
to be subjected to any closer British supervision than that which they now
eI W' su ^ er f 10m , is largely based on ignorance and on considerations
which will not stand the test of examination by the light of present day civili
sation;^ and while, owipg to the increasing intensity of that light, our credit
as a civilised Government will ultimately oblige us to make our supervision
more exacting; yet, on the other hand, we shall doubtless wish to put ourselves,
as far as we can, in the shoes of the rulers of these benighted principalities and
regard with what sympathy we may their fear of the search-light. At any rate
we need to make the process of evolution as easy for them as we can and to let
it operate in the way calculated to draw upon ourselves the minimum amount
of resentment and unpopularity. As far as I can see at present and havin"-
regard to the unreliability of the present Shaikh, any proposal that might be
made in the near future for the location of a British officer at Debai, even as a
periodical sojourner, will probably be met with opposition, real or engineered
and I fear there will be no greater certainty of putting the measure^through
by purely amicable means than there was in December last, and that the
installation of a telegraph station at Debai with European staff will be a
little-less delicate operation.
12 In these circumstances, it occurs to me that the little enclave of
Zora, between Ajman and Jdamriyeh, may be considered to otfer us a
convenient base and more simple means for the location of our telegraph
station and the insertion of the wedge of more effective control.
f lhe situation and history of the Zora tract will be found described in the
Persian Gulf Gazetteer. Its occupation has always been such an apple of
discord among the Shaikhs themselves that we have been^rbliged to prohibit
such occupation. Its position is central, and it possesses a good^Khor on the
Ajman side for the use of native craft; while an anchorage could probablv be
found at some point off it, which would be no worse than those existing at
other ports along that const. On shore we should start with a spacious ancTun-
obstructed tract of ground and it seems conceivable that if we were to make
the place a free port for the import of merchandise for distribution, we might
gradually gather round us a community of peaceful Indian and Arab traders
and that the place under our aegis might thus become a convenient centre for
the spread of inlluence and civilisation, by example and contact, rather than
by any sterner measures.
The start would be made by the landing and installation of the staff and
guard tor the wireless station, with their gear and the necessary E. P. tents
for their accommodation at the beginning" of the cold weather. At the
moment of their disembarkation the Shaikhs of Ajman and Hamriveh ' in the
first instance, and then the Trucial Shaikhs generally, would 'be ' notified