"ملف XXXVIII/٥ المجلد I صور: نوفمبر ١٩٢٨ - فبراير ١٩٣١" [و‎‎٢‎٥‎٥] (٦٨٨/٥١٦)

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present situation at 3ur does not, in my opinion* call
for any sucn diastic measuroB*i On tne poxi ical Si ^ e
proposal has various disadvantages, 'while on the financial
side- though financial reasons were adduced for its sa ; t orL-
it would not seem to nave much to recommend it. Mr.
'ihomas informs me that the total possible revenues from the
Sur Customs would he about ^ 80,000 per annum, of which fo±
the last S year** about / 30,000 n&s been collected annually,
this being at least as nuoh as for any previous quinqueM^ial
period- and perhaps more* In order therefore to increase
this 4 30,000 to 80,000 it was proposed to raise a force
wnich would coot tne Indian Government a large sum in laiehs
of rupees annually, for at least three years, while the
expense of the force thereafter would fall on the Muscat
gtate and apparently swallow up almost all the extra
revenue thus gained. If it was possible and safe to send a
frinaii force of Muscat Infantry to bur, tne question ould
taice on a somewhat different coM^-^exicn.
7 . ^jayal and Air Action. If military force in the shape
of sending a large body of troops to bur is ruled out, the
question of pressure by naval and air action arises- should
need for suoh pressure occur, with regard to air action.
If we wish to tacKle the Bani Bu All seriously tor auy
reason tnen air action would be needed for tne obvioue
reason that this tribe, except for tne few elements in
Aiqa, inhabits the interior out of range of guns. If,
however, we wished to put pressure on bur alone then I
tain* that it might be possible to do this by naval action
alone. It may oe objected that previous naval action in
Mcvembcr 1928 md no permanent effect, out I venture to
suggest that this was because action was confined to the
demolition of a single fort of no particular importance.
To produce the necessary offset at bur naval action will
nave to be in tue nature of a Blockade and destruction of
dho*& (whicn tne Arab values far more than his house),
such as was successfully carried out at Ahasab.(The political