Page 88 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

PART IV—CHAPTER XVI.
68

The Agent at Maskat(Mr. H. Rassam) reported* that, after careful enquiry,
• Letter to Government! No. 7, dated the 27th he was of opinion there would be no
w,r<h obstacle to the establishment of the propos­
ed land line. He submitted at the same time, a list of villages on the coast between
Bandar Abbas and Karachi most of which were shown to be either held in farm
by the Imam of Maskat from Persia, or to be tributary to the latter power.
This report, coupled with that received from the Commissioner in Sind, was
t Letter to Mr. Allison, No. 1371. dated **k considered so far satisfactory as to justify
April 1861. Government in moving Her Majesty’s f
Minister at Teheran to negotiate with the Persian Government for permission to
carry the electric telegraph along the Persian Coast in the direction of Karachi
so far as Persian dominion unquestionably extended.
In the meantime Major Green’s further report}: was received. He pointed
„ , . . ' . .. ...... . out a difficulty in connection with the
the Commissioner in Sind, No. 155. dated the 33th establishment ot the proposed telegraph
March 1S61. line, arising out of a claim advanced by
the Khan of Khelat to the port of Gwadur iti possession of the Sultan of Maskat
and suggested, as a means of overcoming the difficulty, the purchase of Gwadur
by the British Government, and its transference, under certain conditions to the,
Khan of Khelat. It was admitted by Major Green that the Imam of Maskat
was in possession of the country west of Gwadur as far as Cape Jask in the
middle of last century, at which time the Khan of Khelat conquered the country
lying between Gwadur and Karachi. It was also admitted by him that the
Imams have been in undisturbed possession of Gwadur itself for about the same
period, that is, for fully a century. Under these circumstances, it appeared to
Government that the title of the Sultan of Maskat, whether valid or otherwise
originally, derived a prescriptive sanction from mere lapse of time.
As the question thus raised by Major Green was an important one, the
5Resolution of Govemmont, dated the aoth Reverend Mr. Badger, when proceeding
April 1861. to Masked in May 1S61, as temporary
head of the Maskat-Zanzibar Commission, was requested to enquire§ and report
fully on the whole subject.
While this question was under consideration, a despatch dated the 17th
May || 1861 was received from Her
D Despatch No. 3 of 1861.
Majesty’s Secretary of State, enclosing
copy of a memorandum submitted by him to the Persian Ambassador in London,
containing the terms of a proposed agreement between the Persian and
Indian Governments for the construction of a line of telegraph from the
Turkish Frontier through Persia to Bandar Abbas, which should form a com­
ponent part of a line of telegraph from England to India.
The Secretary of State, at the same time, stated that, with the view of
commencing operations on some section of the line between the Turkish Frontier
and Karachi next working season, he had taken measures to obtain stores,
which, pending the result of the negotiations with the Persian Government, might
be applied to the line along the Mekran Coast. He accordingly suggested that
this Government should obtain the permission of the Imam of Maskat, and of the
other Chiefs who hold territory on the Coast through which the line would pass,
carry it through their possessions.
Before, however, obtaining the formal consent of the Chiefs in authority along
the Mekran Coast, Government considered it advisable that a careful survey
of the Coast should be made and the positions of the telegraph stations
determined.
The Commissioner in Sind was accordingly requested % to make arrange­
ments for the deputation of an officer
• II Letter No. 169 dated the 15th Jeoe 1861.
competent to undertake the necessary.
survey as early as practicable.
The British Agent at Maskat was, at the same time, requested** to move
His Highness the Sultan, who had recently
** No. 106 of 1861.
expressed his willingness to co-operate in
the proposed undertaking, to depute an accredited Agent to Gwadur at tne