Page 414 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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CHAPTER IX.

Jask Telegraph Station.
(i) The. Detachment at Jaslt,
124. A dctaolimcnt of native infantry to bo stationed at Jask was first
„ „ „ ordered there under Military Department
n^SS^&imU[n G' KO-17-P-. July 1877, for the
h'ztrrnai A., Ootnber 1887, Nos. 13-228 protection of the Indo-European Tele-
(No. on), and also Gulf Administration Roport for graph establishment. A detachment of
i8ofl-8 , pago l . Nativo Infantry was at the same time
ordered to be sent to Gwadur for the protection of the Political Onicer and
British subjects. The party then consisted of one native officer and 35 men,
two-thirds being ordered to Gwadur and the remainder to Jask, but, owing to
the want of propor accommodation at the latter station, the party did not move
there until December 1878, when the detachment at Bassidoro was ordered to
be relieved and reduced to the strength of a Havildar’s guard, owing to the
unhealthiness of the station. One Native officer, 3 Havildars, 4 Isaiks, and
62 privates then proceeded to Jask, thus maintaining the full strength of the
details considered necessary on the coast of Baluchistan.
In January 1880, Government decided to reduce the detachment at
Gwadur to a Non-Commissioned Officer’s guard of 12 men owing to the
extreme unhealthiness of the place, and the surplus men (about 6 in number)
were sent to Jask.
In December 1880, the detachment at Gwadur was still further reduced
to 8 men, the remaining five being sent to Jask. Shortly afterwards the whole
of the men were withdrawn from Gwadur to regimental head-quarters. The
strength of the party at Jask then stood at about 91 men, and it remained at
that strength more or less since that date up the year 1887.

(ii) British control and jurisdiction within the Station.
125. In May 1884, five men of the detachment of sepoys stationed at
Jask, whilst out, were fired upon and
EzUrokl A., October 1888. Nos. 69-78.
robbed of some money by two natives.
Mr. Sealy, Assistant Superintendent of Telegraphs, in charge Jask, made
enquiries into the matter, and Abdul Nahbi, Chief of Jask, being away
at the time managed to recover some of tho money at once from Abdul
Nabbi’s Munshi. The remainder was paid by Abdul Nabbi himself on bis
return.
126. In March 1885, Mr. Patton, Assistant Superintendent in charge Jask,
brought to the notice of the Director of Persian 'Telegraphs (letter dated 13th
March 1885) that shortly after the Jask Station was first opened, in oonsequ-
ence of the numerous petty annoyances caused by the Baluchis and their Chiefs,
it was thought advisable by the late Directors, Mr. Walton and Colpnel Lewis
Pelly, that some nominal boundary should be defined within which the Chiefs
should not he allowed to interfere. On representations being made to the then
Governor of Bunder Abbas, Baji Ahmed Khan, a Commission composed of
several Persian Officers were sent down to Jask, and as tho creek formed for
part of the way a natural boundary it was adopted, and a line drawn from the
creek to the sea in tho Last Bay was also made a boundary, a survey was ordered
to be made and a plan drawn out. Within this limit it was decided that no
customs should be collected or any interference permitted by the chiefs and
for some years this practice existed and worked well.
126A. No record of any correspondence on this arrangement could be
found either in the Director’s office, or at the Legation, nor is there anything
in our records on this matter.