Page 93 - Records of Bahrain (3) (ii)_Neat

The pre-war economy: pearl fishing, 1099-1915 509

'2246

assist him without special instructions from Government ; aud Colonel
Ross at the same time informed Government that, in his opinion, no
Shaikh had the wish, the right, or the power to grant a pearl fishing
concession. From Buhsher Mr. Grant made his way to Bahrain, hut
the Shaikh refused to hold relations with him; and, having been
warned of the danger involved in visiting the rest of the Arab coast,
Mr. Grant appears to havo returned to Europe, re infect a; nor waB
anything more heard of Messrs. Smith and Company's project.
The next prospector to come forward was Mr. E. "W. Streeter of
'• Stn 0(01*8
phoation* London, Who at the end of 1889 approached the Foreign Office with a
$9. request for their countenance in fishing for pearls, with the permission
of the Arab Shaikhs, at depths beyond the reach of native divers. Along
with his application lie submitted a pamphlet on the Gulf pearl fisheries,
compiled by himself from all available sources of information, in which
the existing methods were denounced as a <( terrible system of bondage,
as degrading and oppressive as slavery itself 3\ Colonel boss, tho
Resident in the Gulf, on being consulted, stated it as his opinion that
the Arabs would not, of their own free will, consent to operations being
undertaken by Mr. Streeter; and that, even if they did, the support
of Air. Streeter’s scheme by the British Government would involve
responsibilities, the nature and extent of which it was impossible to
foresee. The Government of India, accordingly, advised the Secretary
of State that it was not desirable to encourage Mr. Streeter; that the
Arabs had long regarded the banks as their exclusive property, and
would n sent the intrusion of foreigners ; that operations in deep water
might prejudicially affect the fertility of the shallower banks; and that
inconvenient territorial claims on the part of the Persian and Turkish Gov­
ernments might be revived. The application was accordingly refused by
Her Majesty’s Government on the ground that compliance with it “ would
be likely to give rise to serious difficulties but Mr. Streeter did not,
apparently, at once renounce his ideas, for, in October 1891, a M.
Steinberger of Paris called upon Colonel Talbot, the Resident in the
Gulf, at Bushehr, and made enquiries, on behalf of Mr. Streeter and
others, as to the feasibility of deep-water operations by Europeans on
the Arabian side. Ilis proposals were however discouraged, and he
reported to his principals in a sense unfavourable to the undertaking.
attempts to Early in 1899 it was reported that- attempts were being made to
bWn ooti- obtain from the Turkish Government a pearl fishing concession in the
Msions from Persian Gulf; but enquiries which were 6et on foot at Constantinople
899-1900 Bfiowed that, if proposals had been made, they had not as yet been
entertained. About a year later, however, it became known that the
Porte were anxious to find a financial group who would take up a
concession of the kind in question, and that the matter had been
discussed, in general terms, between a M. Rechnitzer and the Sultan'6
second Secretary. It was accordingly decided to warn the Turkish
Government of the possession of prescriptive rights, in regard to the
Arabian fisheries, by the littoral Arabs whose chiefs had entered into
epccial relations with the Government of India: this course was
dictated by the consideration that the British Government were generally
regarded a6 under an obligation to protect the Shaikhs of Trucial 'Oman
and Bahrain in the possession of their maritime rights. The Turkish
minister who was addressed promised to bear this communication in