Page 134 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf) 1907-1953

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carrying the British, Persian, or Bahrein flag in
Bahrein territorial waters, as well as Bahrein
vessels in Indian or Persian waters, and to
confiscate all arms and ammunition (weapons of
war) intonded for Indian or Persian ports, or for
the Islands of Bahrein.
The effect of the prohibition at Bahrein was at
mice perceptible in the customs returns, the total
value of the imports of arms and ammunition,
which had amounted to 30,849/. in 1897, falling to
313/. in the following year. In October 1903 the
Sheikh of Bahroin addressed a Memorial to the
Government of India, in which, among other
alleged grievances, lie complained of the fact that
J:owas obliged to interdict the sale of arms,and was
thereby deprived of an advantage enjoyed by all
the Arab Chiefs along the Arabian coast, lie was Government of
informed in reply, in May 1906, that the restric- Ma^si^im^
tion on the importation of arms at Bahrein had
first been imposed in 1895 by himself on his own
initiative, and his attention was drawn to the
measures he had himself spontaneously taken
from time to time to stop the traffic. It was also
pointed out to him that the Sheikh of Kowcit
and the Sheikhs of the Trucial Coast had simi­
larly prohibited the traffic of arms in their terri­
tory, and he was given to understand that the
Government of India would not cousider for a
moment the possibility of cancelling or modi­
fying the Agreement he had concluded with the
British Government on this point.
There seems good reason to believe that a con- Major Cor to
siderable amount of illicit arms traffic goes on at i^a^December 2,
Bahrein. Writing in December 1906, Major 1906.
Cox furnished evidence that the port w'as rapidly
rising to importance as a centre of the trade.
The business in arms there, hitherto confined to
one dealer, had been taken over by a Company,
two of the shareholders being friends of Sheikh
Ksa and opponents of customs reform. Do added
that the business had been largely extended, and
Bahrein was being used as a distribution centre
for supplying Persia.

3. Koweit.—On the 24th May, 1900, the Sheikh Government of
. . . . , , India'* letter of
of Koweit entered into an agreement with the July 6,1900.
British Government, by which he engaged “ abso­
lutely to prohibit the importation of arms into
Koweit or exportation therefrom.” To carry out
this engagement he issued on the same day (1)
a Notification declaring that “the importation