مطرح - اقتراح لجعلها ميناء لتزويد السفن البخارية باحتياجاتها بدلاً من مسقط" [و‎‎٨] (٥٦/٢٨)

V
Ministry of Finance
I'u 3 cat
22nd Larch 1926.
Cct-A
In the remarks "below I have criticised the trade and financial
imp] icatioiG of the views contained in 1'r. bill's r iemorandum
rather than state a case for IJuscat as a port ac against
Hat rah or vice versa. In my opinion the case chan. e is
untenable hut first to leal with the fiucstion^ raised,
1 ]!u.scat (gc Duhai ,
It is true that Muscat as a port ha^ declined
hut not for the self-straa"ulatory reasons ref^ered to "by
I jr. T . ills.
I was already fully aware,and I should have
thought Colonel Grosthwaite had heeii too, that Duhai has a
considerable share of our northern Batinah trade. Nothing is
more natural or more inevitable. Dubai's pearl wealth has
given it a wreat and rrowin- purchasing power. Thus it habit
ually buys nearly the whole of our Shumailiyah date crop and
most of the buildinc timber cut in the Sill behind the Batinah
ports as far south as Buwaic. This is sea borne. 1 myself
when on tour have also seen big butter caravans leaving the
Batinah towns for Dulai by the land route. Camels and ships
having disposed of t 1 eir valuable freights at Dubai do not
return empty-handed. It would be ludicrous to imagine them
coming empty away, bach to the Batinah where they belong and
thence setting off in the opposite direction to Muscat and
¥atrah to buy rice and cloth which are available in Dubai.
The reason that the -^atinah buys from Dubai is that Dubai buys
the Batinah dates and timber and butter, thus providing cheap
and ready-made transport for the return journey.
have
That Dubai happens tQ A no customs duties and is a cheap port is
a mere accident^al featvre of the situation.