Page 143 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
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Chapter Throe

                 preparation of their cases for arbitration consisted to a large extent
                 of the collection of evidence that taxes or zakah had been paid by
                 certain groups or individuals to either of the two powers. Although it
                 is some manifestation of sovereignly if a Ruler can collect lax from
                 nomadic and settled tribal groups, this does not necessarily always
                 mean that his authority is therefore any more acceptable to them. As
                 many of the cases collated in the UK Memorial and the Saudi
                 Memorial, both digested in J.B. Kelly’s book Eastern Arabian
                 Frontiers, show, taxes were paid when it was difficult to refuse, or as
                 Bertram Thomas puts it: “It is an insurance premium, and by no
                 means signifies a voluntary or lasting acknowledgement of sov­
                 ereignly.”05 Particularly in respect of people such as the beduin
                 Manasir or the semi-settled groups of the Bani Yas in Dhafrah, the A1
                 Bu Falah Ruler’s authority was manifest not so much in the latter
                 having the power to collect taxes as in the tribes turning to him for
                 protection, subsidies, jurisdiction and the feeling of identity.

                 Customs duties
                 Within the confinement of a community, such as the coastal
                 settlements, it is not difficult for a Ruler to exert authority over
                 groups and individuals, even over those who are reluctant to fall in
                 line. There he could enforce unpopular rules and regulations with the
                 help of a few armed guards Caskar or fidawi), and he could for
                 example prohibit the construction of a house on a particular site, he
                 could control the rent of shops in the sue/ and interfere in many
                 aspects of the daily life of the people.
                   The imposition of customs at the major ports has always been a
                 Ruler’s undisputed right. On trade overland, however, no customs
                 dues were collected, such as on the transport of earthenware pots or
                 camel-saddles from 'Ibri to the Buraimi villages. Nor was the market
                 atDaid subject to customs duties forgoods from Oman. In theTrucial
                 States dues varied between \\ per cent recorded earlier this century
                 for Sharjah and 2\ per cent current in Abu Dhabi during the 1950s.
                 There were customs collectors at Sharjah as well as Ra's al Khaimah
                 even  before the complete separation into two shaikhdoms. The
                 Rulers of Abu Dhabi maintained a customs collector in Abu Dhabi
                 and on Dalma.06 A duty of 2\ per cent of the value of imports except
                 for pearls was levied in both places.07
                   On first sight it seems that there was a lot of room for argument
                 over the value of cargoes on local craft carrying firewood from Iran or

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