Page 272 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

83 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF TIIE PERSIAN GULF POLITICAL RESIDENCV
Customs. Th© administration of ilio Customs has boon fairly satisfactory as far as
thn public is concerned. No complaints of irnportaneo were made against
it by British subjects.
Nevertheless, the personnel employed are not sufficiently intelligent or
educated for the efficient discharge of their duties. No intelligent system of
accounts is kept either of money received or paid out. Seth Damoder Dharin-
sev, a Banin, is tlio nominal head of the Customs. lie, however, has been absent
in India for six months, and in the interval Shaikh Abdul Karim, an Indian
Muhammadan, who was only a menial gatekeeper when Mohomed Ibrahim
supervised the Customs, has been left in sole charge, assisted by a few clerks of
Bania Damoder. it is a pity that hithorto His Highness the Sultan has not
thought it advisable to appoint an experienced officer who might reorganise
the entire administration to His Ilighncss’s great profit. Putting aside
political considerations one of the stumbling blocks to that course has been
provided by the unprecedented import of arms and ammunition which has
enormously swelled the Customs receipts, enabling the Sultan to get rid of his
debts and be free from pecuniary embarrassment for the first timo since he
ascended the throne. All the arms merchants willingly pay him $ a dollar
on each rifle imported in addition tq the customs duty of 5 per cent, ad
valorem. The payment of this tax entitles the merchants to a free pass or
license from the Local Government to export the arms.
Finance. The Maria Theresa dollar still continues as the current coin in Maskat.
The great fluctuations in its value cause many of tho merchants here to
speculate usually with disastrous results.
A suggestion to try and abolish the dollar and to introduce the Indian
rupee as the current coin is slill under consideration. It is stated that the
Arabs are beginning to realize the great advautauc of its stability.
Mr. Stephen, Manager of the National Bank of India, Ld., Karachi,
paid a private visit to Maskat in March. He stated that the opening of a sub­
agency in connection with Karachi would bo an easy matter. Many of the
merchants arc anxious to see this plan adopted.
Arms and There was a still further and unprecedented increase in the arms traffic
ammunition- over tho preceding year amounting to 148 per cent. Last year it had
increased by 50 per cent, over the preceding year. In two years, therefore,
the trade has risen from Rs. 6,10,6^5 to Rs. 41,85,700.
The following table shows the amounts imported from tho different
countries:—
Rifles. Revolvers. Cartridgcs,
Belgium 45,370 1,565 5.055.000
United Kingdom 30,S00 1,220 3.870.000
France 6,280 220 2.151.000
Germany . . 5,230 Ml 1.230.000
The English rifle is still very popular owing to its superior workmanship
and finish. The Belgian one is a plausible imitation of the English and owing
to its cheaper price has a very largo sale. The French and German rifles are
very inferior in quality. The pattern is the Martini-Henry type.
The average market price of a rifle with 100 cartridge is English Rs. 35,
Belgian Rs. 30, French Rs. 18 and German Rs. 15. Most of the arms impor­
ted are believed to have been sent up the Gulf in dhows.
Twenty thousand rifles with their complement of 100 rounds of ammunition
per rifle left for tho Mekran Coast. His Majesty’s ships employed to check the
traffio met with no success during the official year. Tho masters of the badans
and dhingies employed to transport the arms were paid freight money equal
to the value of the vessel to cover the risk of seizure by tho men*of-war an
often received a bonus besides.
Most of the rifles carried across to Mokran wore for Pathans who al­
though expelled from Maskat by wish of the .Local Government collected m
large numbers near Jask waiting to recoive the various consignments an
thence convey them to Afghanistan.