Page 667 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

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The affairs in Kalba under the regency of °haikh Khalid and the
de facto control of his nephew Humaid bin Abdullah haye gone
from bad to worse. The administration of justice and the
maintenance of security have been entirely neglected, and such
power as Humaid commands has been devoted to the extortion of •
excessive taxes and forced loans from the subjects of the State.
In fact, none of the Jawasim Shaikhs has used what force or
influence he commands to oppose the strong in protection of the
weak. They prefer to befriend law-breakers of whom they are
frightened and to use such power they have to extort money end
goods from the poor and humble of their subjects, who most need
their protection and sucour. Indeed, their subjects go in as
much fear of depredations by their Shaikhs as by robbers.
This practise has not been without effect. Persian merchants
hitherto established in Sharjah and Ras al Vhaimah ere moving
away to Dubai, and vill'ages on the extremities of their domains
are turning to the Shaikh of Fujairah for prbtection. They ere
now paying their taxes to him because they have found that he
gives them some return for them in security. In Dubai, too, the
emphasis has been on the Ruler*s duty towards his subjects rather
than on his claims to their property. Security there and in
Abu Dhabi has been almost complete and both Rulers are obeyed
and greatly respected by their subjects. The Shaikh of Dubai
and also the Shaikh of Fujairah ( who is most active and whose
influence is steadily increasing) have themselves undertaken
the punishment of robbers who loot their subjects within Jawasim
limits because they know that they can get no satisfaction from
the Jawasim Shaikhs. The same is true of Ajman and Ucn al Qalwain:
and Ajcan has recently assumed, at the.request of the inhabitants,"
jurisdiction oyer llasfut, formerly under Shaikh Saqr bin Sultan
of the Nai'ra, because the latter was unable to protect the
inhabitants from the Beni Kebab.
(xi) Slavery.

During the year under review there have been some
c?ses of abduction of persons into slavery from Sharjah, Dubai
and other parts of the Trucial Coast and the Batinah. Persons
abducted were taken to Hamasah, Euraimi, by land and sold to
Saudi and ^atar slave dealers, who tfcok most of them to Saudi
Arabia on camels. Strong representations have Veen made to
the shaikhs of Dubai and Sharjah, and the Shaikh of Dubai has
expelled from Dubai one Khalifah bin Majid, a notorious slave-
dealer, and has recovered three persons who were abducted from
Dubai. Host of the bedouin involved in the abduction from
Sharjah were of the Beni Qitab, against whom the Shaikh of
Sharjah dare not take any action. The Residency Agent visited
Buraimi during the year, ma.de enquiries in Hamasah about the
slave trade,- and did all he could to supress it. He also
arranged for thr-ee abducted women to be retained in Kamasah
until they could be recovered through the Shaikhs of Dubai and
Sharjah, from whose territories they had been abducted.
(xii) Piracy.
There has been no complaint against any of the
subjects of the Trucial Sheikhdoms of their having engaged in
piracy during the year*.
(xiii) Economic.
Trade has been depressed throughout the year.
Exports to Persia have considerably decreased5 and many
merchants who held large amounts in Persian currency have lost
nearly half their capital - the exchange rate between the toman
and the rupee having fallen from par to Rs. 60/- to Ts. 100/-.
xhe depression has been accentuated by the ban on .the import
of pearls into India and by the curtailment of expenditure
by H.M.G's defence services.

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