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ADMINISTRATION REPORT

                                      OIT THE

          PERSIAN GULF POLITICAL RESIDENCY

                                       roi

                                   1905-1906.


             REVIEW BY THE POLITICAL RESIDENT IN THE
                                PERSIAN GULF.


                               EXPLANATORY NOTE.
            The creation during the last few years of several additional and important
        posts within the sphere of the Persian Gulf Residency lias gradually made the
        material for annual report too unwieldy to he conveniently dealt with, as
        hitherto, in a single compilation by the Resident. Accordingly, under the
        instructions of the Government of India, the Trade Statistics have been
        separated and the Political Report for the past twelve months is this ye3r
         presented in a revised form. Separate reports for their respective charges have
         been furnished by the following officers of the Government of India, and will
         now be reviewed:—
                                       PERSIA.
              Busbire and Fars                By the Resident.
              Arabistan   .                   By Captain D. L. R. Lorimer.
              Kermanshah                      By Captain H. A. K. Gough.
              Kerman .   .                    By Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. M, Stewart.
              Bunder Abbas .                  By Lieutenant W. H. I. Shakespear.
              Persian Mekran                    Compiled in the Residency chiefly
                                                  from reports of the Director,
                                                  Persian Gulf Telegraphs.
                                       ARABIA.
              Maskat territory            .   By Hajor W. G. Grey.
              Tructal Oman .              •   By the Resident.
              Bahrein    •                •   By Captain F. B. Prideanx.
              Koweit                      •   By Captain S. G. Knox.
             Both the political and commercial destinies of the region covered by this General
         review are passing through a critical epoch of their history. Stagnation is Bemark**
         rendered impossible by potent forces operating from within and without;
         movement there must be; and the question which a reviewer has to ask
         himself in regard to the Imperial interests of Great Britain is whether that
         movement has been progressive or retrograde. On the whole, I think, the
         record for the year 1905-1906 indicates that we have no great cause for self-
         reproach.
             The two most pregnant problems which have loomed upon the political
         horizon and will soon exercise an influence on every important local question
                                        which arises are (1) the fnture of the
                   Ikghdad
                                         Baghdad-Persian Gulf Railway and the
          entry of Germany into the lists of the commerce and politics of the Middle
                                         East and (2) the gradual but manifest
                  Dinolatioo of Ptrtii.
                                         trend of Persia towards disruption and
          complications resulting therefrom.
                                                                       B
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