Page 293 - PERSIAN 4 1899_1905

RESIDENCY AND MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR TIIE YEAR 1001-1003. 9
This year the revenue assessed on the value of trade, according to figures
furnished by the Customs Superintendent, amounts to somo Its. 4,000 less than last
year, but this difference is more than accounted for, by tho untoward fact that
during tho yoar 2 vessels with valuable cargoes bound for Maskat have never
been heard of, and presumably foundered at sea; one being the clipper sailing-
ship County of Forfa owned by residents in Maskat, and bound from Calcutta
with cereals, and the second the S.S. Basulo from London, with arms and
ammunition. There have been occasional complaints from merchants, of incon­
siderate treatment at the Customs House by the Sultan’s officials, sometimes well
founded, sometimes not; but I have always found His Highness anxious to remove
causes of complaints when brought to liis personal notice, and to meet merchants
half-way as far as lies in his power.
The great desideratum at. present is, undoubtedly, the improvement of the C us-
tom house, wharf and premises, which are not a credit to the State, but I aiu glad
to report that the Local Government has lately started work in this direction, which,
it is hoped, will be carried to completion. It is interesting to record here that the
satisfactory pecuniary results of his Customs Administration at Maskat, have
prompted the Sultan to assume the direct control at other ports in Oman, of
which hitherto the Customs have been" farmed”. Barka, Mesnaa and Suweik on
the Batincli coast have already been taken in hand, and also Sur to the south of
Maskat, and it is expected that other ports will follow as time goes on.
In order to facilitate the collection of dues at Sur, where the inhabitants have
always been very difficult to deal with in this connection, it was His Highness’s
first idea to build a wall on the land side, so as to restrict all import and export
caravan traffic to the use of certain gates where Customs guards would be sta­
tioned. On goingiuto the matter on the spot, however, lie realised that owing to
the difficulty of obtaining materials and labour at Sur itself, the building of a
wall of effective length would take a year or more to complete, and he therefore
chose the more economical and speedy alternative of creating a line of block­
houses on the hills between Sur cl-Bilad and the port of Sur, commanding the
caravan routes to and from the interior. These were completed during his recent
sojourn at Sur in November.
This is decidedly a step in the right direction and will suffice for present
purposes, but now that His Highness has taken the Customs collection of the
port into his own hands, it is to be hoped that as the administration improves
and increased revenue comes in, he will see his way to build a suitable Customs
wharf at the entrance to the creek.
In connection with the above block-hcuscs, 100 extra sepoys have been
engaged for garrison purposes at Sur.
6. The Arms Traffic.—It will be seen from the trade returns appended,
that there has been a considerable decline in the quantity of arms and ammuni­
tion imported into Maskat during the year, the decrease being roughly 8,000 rifles
and 1,400,000 cartridges. The difference is in some measure accountable for by
the loss of S.S. Basuto before mentioned, and also by the fact that at the time
the Customs House Returns were furnished by the Superintendent, delivery on all
the eases received by the last two steamers had not been taken by the consignees,
and duty had not theretoro been collected on them.
It is worthy of note that the Bedouins arc gradually learning to recap and
reload their own cartridges; in fact, a demand is beginning to spring up for new
empty eases ; riflemen evidently realising that it is more economical to load their
own cartridges, often no doubt with home-made powder, and that the light empty
cases are less trouble to transport from the coast.
7. Pearl Dispute.—The longstanding dispute mentioned in last year’s
report, which has beon dragging on for moro than two years, has at last been
brought to a close.
It will be remembered that the representative committee which was
appointed to assess ihc shares of tho several parties interested, awarded His High-•
ness the Sultan 30,000 dollars, representing a one-third share of the value of the
Question, and a document was passed and signed by the Chief of 8hargah
ana others in ratification of tho award. This sum was not forthcoming, however,
owmg to loss meanwhile sustained by tho holders, who had evidently been spe-
mating with money borrowed on the security of the pearl, and the Resident
ter visiting bhargah, having informed His Highness that in his opinion
c