Page 192 - Historical Summaries (Persian Gulf - Vol II) 1907-1953

179
services have from time to time been obtained, find conditions at Muscat
unsupportable and quickly leave. The Sultan also has a school at Salalah about
which little is known and a well-attended but miserably housed primary school
at Gwadur. A few Muscatis were once sent to Bahrain for education, but the
experiment was not a success and the Sultan has recently been considering a
proposal to send some of his subjects for secondary education to Aden. The
Mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of America used to have schools in Muscat
and Matrah, but these cater only for children of their own staff as in 1947 the
Sultan to afford proof of his orthodoxy forbade others to attend them. The Hindu
and Khojah communities also have their own schools.
22. In 1932 the Sultan formed a Municipal Committee consisting of six
Muscat and three British subjects for the towns of Muscat and Matrah. A King’s
Regulation had already been issued in 1935 making applicable to British subjects
rules and taxes imposed by the Muscat Government on their own subjects for the
conservancy of these two towns subject to their approval by the Political
Resident.!31) By virtue of the Commercial Treaty of 1939 this Regulation became
a dead letter. In 1938 to provide funds for the Municipality a tax of one anna per
package was imposed on goods liable to customs duty imported from abroad and
was made applicable to British subjects. In 1948 the Sultan’s brother, Saiyid
Tariq was made Administrator of the Municipality, and when Lieutenant-Colonel
Woods Ballard took over as Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1.949 he was made the
“ High Authority ” responsible for its supervision. In 1952 a Sultanate Municipal
Law, based on the law regulating the municipality at Quetta in Baluchistan when
it was under British rule, was issued and applied to Muscat, Matrah and Gwadur.
The Municipal Committee for Muscat and Matrah has greatly improved conditions
in those towns but there is room for much further improvement. The Consulate
Medical Officer has been appointed ex officio Municipal Health Officer and has
assisted in anti-malarial work and sanitary measures generally.
23. All cases in the Muscat Courts are decided in accordance with
Muhammadan (Shara) law. Appeals are referred to the Sultan who if he considers
it necessary appoints special tribunals to hear them. Prisoners are confined in one
of the old Portuguese forts, where conditions are medieval apart from some special
accommodation which was provided in 1953 for prisoners sentenced by the
Consulate Courts.
24. In 1947 an Egyptian vessel called the Star of Mex went ashore on the
coast of Ras al Hadd.(33) Efforts made by one of His Majesty’s ships to salve her
failed and much of her cargo was looted by local tribesmen. The owners asked
the Muscat Government to admit their liability for the damages and loss sustained
through looting but so far as is known they received no reply and the matter was
dropped.
25. Since the last war persistent efforts have been made to persuade the
Sultan to develop his local resources and to give him such assistance in this as was
practicable but up to date little or nothing has been done. In 1947 the services of
the late Sir Cyril Fox were obtained through the Government of India to carry out
a general geological survey of Dhofar. He thought there were good prospects of
finding oil though this optimism was not shared by Petroleum Concessions
Limited’s geologists. His main recommendation was the development of a cement
and chemical industry, a proposition both expensive and risky owing to the
inaccessibility of Dhofar and the distance of suitable markets. In 1953 the Sultan
persuaded Mr. Wendell Phillips, an American, to bring out an expert to examine
it, and his opinion was that it would not be commercially profitable. In order to
obtain fuel for the proposed cement factory Fox recommended the further
investigation of certain coal deposits some miles inland from Sur, specimens from
which he had examined in India. These deposits were inspected in 1901 by a
geologist of the Government of India who reported that owing to the remoteness
of the site and the small amount of available coal they were of no economic
value.!34)
26. The Muscat and Dhofar fisheries offer what is probably the most
promising field for development. Dr. Bertram of St. John’s College, Cambridge,
visited Muscat and Dhofar in 1948 and reported that the fisheries were “ extremely
C‘) No. 1 of 1935.
(”) C.R.O. toF.O. Ext. 1851/1947 of August 28. 1947 (J 4085/502/16 of 1947).
(”) F.O. to P.R. 10260/1102/91 of November 18. 1949.