Page 139 - UAE Truncal States
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               Clwp I or Throe

                in the autumn depending on the size of the boat. There was also a
                royalty of 75 Rupees on every pearl that was worth more than 1,000
                Rupees, and a commission was taken by the Ruler on the sale of all
                pearls at Dalma island.
                  During that same period (ornz was the lax collected usually in the
                spring at the rale of between 2\ and 10 M.T. Dollars per diver/hauler
                team (called qallah) at all ports except Hamrlyah and I-IIrah.
                However, relatives, friends, officials and servants of the Ruler were
                exempt from paying taxes. In Sharjah town these exemptions
                represented one third of the gross revenue of the port, amounting to
                30,700 Rupees because 71 boats and 1,317 men were exempt. In
                Dubai more than half the revenue due to the Ruler was waived, but
                the 210 exempted boats (out of a total of 335 boats) had to pay for the
                cost of 100 beduin employed to guard the town. In Abu Dhabi only 21
                boats and 315 men were exempt, which meant a loss of 2,000 Rupees
                in revenues; in this case the Ruler paid for the cost of maintaining
                guards, which amounted to 1,450 Rupees.75 The system of taxation
                did not only vary between one port of the Trucial Coast and another,
                but it was also subject to significant changes due to the local changes
                of regime as well as to fluctuations in this important industry. In the
                case of Abu Dhabi these changes are well documented.
                  The system of taxation in use during the first decade of the 20th
                century on Dalma island was described, in even more detail than in
                the Gazetteer, by the Residency Agent in Sharjah in a memorandum
                in the following sentences: “Dalma island is thickly populated during
                diving seasons, being visited by the natives of Katr, Bahrein, Lingah
                and the towns on the Arab Coast, who are dealing in pearls and
                miscellaneous goods. They pay the Chief of Abu Dhabi a tax (at the
                rate of) 40 or 30 M.T. Dollars for every merchant and 10 or 6 M.T.
                Dollars for every petty pearl dealer (Tawwash) whose capital
                amounts to Rupees 1000/- more or less. The Chief of Abu Dhabi also
                levies a tax, ‘Arziyeh\ of one M.T. Dollar on the lodging of every pearl
                dealer. He also takes one half of the profit gained by pearl dealers   I
                who buy precious pearls from the subjects of Abu Dhabi. For
                instance, if anyone bought 2 or 3 pearls for Rupees 10,000/- and sold
                them for Rupees 12,000/- a half of the profit will be for the Chief of
                Abu Dhabi. This [rule] applies to the pearls on which people of Abu
               Dhabi have no claims (that is to say, on which they have paid no
                advance). As regards the pearls on which there are claims by the   I
               people of Abu Dhabi, the Chief himself settles with them as regards
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