Page 217 - The Persian Gulf Historical Summaries (1907-1953) Vol II_Neat

201

(e) Slavery
95. Although no reports appear to exist on the subject it may be presumed
that domestic slavery is widespread in Muscat and that it is regarded as a lawful
institution. The Sultan has however honourably observed the provisions of the
Treaty of 1873("c) and when called upon to do so takes such action as is in his
power to prevent the traffic in slaves, which is totally prohibited by proclamations
issued by Saiyid Turki in 1873 and 1884 (Appendix F (i) and (ii)). He has also
raised no objection to the exercise by Her Majesty's Consul-General of the power
to manumit. Between 1928 and 1945 manumissions averaged 29 a year.
96. When a Political Officer visited Buraimi in 1938 with the oil company's
representatives (paragraph 41 above) he reported that about 1,000 slaves were sold
in the Hamasah market every year for export to Saudi Arabia and that they were
mostly abducted from Persia via the Batinah coast. In 1942 the Political Resident
reported that this traffic was still continuing and that the Sultan was powerless to
stop it.C,T) The market at Hamasah was still operating after the war and was then
mostly supplied with persons abducted from the Batinah Coast itself or from the
Trucial Coast (Chapter 3, paragraph 138). With the gradual consolidation of the
Sultan’s authority on the Batinah and with the establishment of the Trucial Oman
Levies the traffic has dwindled to very small proportions in recent years.

(/) Arms
97. The question of the arms traffic from Muscat which assumed such
importance in the first two decades of the centuryC4") is no longer the cause of any
anxiety. When the arms subsidy ceased in 1936, the Political Resident expressed
the opinion that the Sultan was no longer bound by Saiyid Faisal’s engagement of
1912 because the arms subsidy which formed the consideration for it had been
withdrawn, nor by Saiyid Taimur’s adherence to the Arms Traffic Convention of
1919(M») because that Convention had been replaced by another one in 1925, to
which Muscat had not adhered and which had not even been brought into
operation.^40) The present Sultan however has never specifically repudiated these
undertakings nor has he withdrawn the proclamations issued by Faisal in 1898
forbidding the export of arms and ammunition to India and Persia and giving
British and Persian vessels the right to search Muscat vessels for these articles
(Appendix G (i) and (ii)). Faisal’s engagement of 1912 was not embodied in a
formal agreement. In return for a subsidy and on certain other conditions he
issued a notification (Appendix G (iii)) in which all arms and ammunition held at
the time by arms dealers or subsequently imported were to be deposited. The
correspondence on the subject is summarised in a memorandum entitled “ Arms
Traffic in the Persian Gulf” prepared by the Political Department of the India
Office and dated February 20, 1913.(,al)

(g) Banks
98. After the Second World War His Majesty’s Government endeavoured to
persuade a British Bank to open a Branch at Muscat. In .1946 they succeeded in
interesting the Imperial Bank of Iran in the proposal and in persuading the Sultan
to grant that Bank an option. This option was not taken up and the Eastern
Bank entered the field. In 1948 the Imperial Bank of Iran changed their minds
and for a time it appeared that the two Banks would compete for a concession
from the Sultan. The Eastern Bank however delayed taking action, and in July
1948 an agreement (Appendix H) was signed between the Sultan of Muscat and
the Imperial Bank of Iran (now the British Bank of the Middle East) for a period
of twenty years, during which the Bank is to have a monopoly. It opened a branch
in Muscat in September of the same year, since when the agreement has worked
satisfactorily. In 1953 the Bank were negotiating with the Sultan for land for
the new premises which under the agreement they are bound to build.
(,4‘) No. 6 V. T.c.
C47) I.O. to F.O. Ext. 3615/42 of July 27. 1942 (E 4472/1607/65 of 1942).
(,4‘) Paras. 7 to 17 at pp. 44 to 46. P.G’ 13.
C4*) No. 9 V. T.C.
(,ln) I.O. to F.O. P.Z. 5441/36 of July 30. 1936 (E 4865/838/91 of 1936). i
(m) Asia. Vol. 20. Various Papers (Persian Gulf. &c.). 1923.
46639 2 E