Page 502 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

8 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERBIAN GULF
It will be seen that there has been a useful breaking of a new ground
among the Kuhgclu, and Lieutenant Ranking has submitted an interesting
and industrious report on the condition and internal policy of the tribe.
Practically the entire life history of Maskat and the Sultan for the year
w , 4 1910 is summed up in the words “ Arms
Traffic."
At the beginning of the year the political situation in connection there­
with was as follows :—
The re-assembled Brussels Conference had concluded its sittings and,
owing to the attitude of the French Government in regard to the arms trade
to Maskat, had failed entirely to find any solution of that problem. We were
therefore relegated once more to the hope of arriving at a friendly direct settle­
ment with France. But so far France had refused to take up the Maskat
question except as one item in a general settlement of interests on “ give and
take” lines, and the basis proposed by them was one which His Majesty’s
Government had been unable to entertain. It was arranged therefore that,
during 1910, we should maintain measures on the spot, which, without giving
the French or the Sultan legitimate cause of complaint from the point of view
of international law, would demonstrate both to one and the other that we
could, if we chose to spend the money, reduce the traffic to exiguous propor­
tions by unexceptionable means; and that as we had the mind to do it, it would
be worth their while to deal with us while the French commercial stake re­
presented by the arms traffic possessed a practical monetary value for negotia­
tion purposes. To this end, it was decided to adopt no half-measures with
the Sultan or the Baluch Chiefs in the way of recompense or inducement for
colourable co-opcration, but to maintain a full blockade of the Mekran Coast
for a whole year at least, and attack the traffic by every possible means with
the idea of bringing the French and the Sultan to a suitable frame of mind
for negotiation.
The results of the measures which have been in force during the year,
under the direction of His Excellency the Naval Commander-in-Chief, have
been eminently successful, and have had precisely tlie effect expected from
them, and it now remains to approach the French again, if there is now a hope
of a settlement with them, or, failing that, discuss the situation with the Sul­
tan, who has been reduced to a state ripe for discussion, and devise, in co­
operation with him, means, to which the French cannot constitutionally object,
for keeping the traffic under strict control in spite of them.
Our present measures have strained our relations with His Highness Sir
Seyyid Faisal and to a great extent destroyed his peace of mind, and we cannot
afford, from the point of view of general politics, to allow the present tension
to continue indefinitely.
It is satisfactory to be able to record that, after somewhat difficult and
tedious negotiations regarding the M Kadra ” Dhow case, which we have been
discussing with the Italian Government on behalf of the Sultan, a definitive
solution has been reached.
The affairs of the Trucial Coast have been brought into troublesome pro­
Tnicial Oman. minence during the year.
The Shaikh of Ajman, Abdul Aziz bin Homeid, died a violent death, m
February, at the hands of one of his slaves. He was a very backward and
brutish person and his son Homeid, who succeeded him, is still more so.
Fortunately Ajman is a principality of little importance.
The situation at Ras-el-Kneima also gave cause for some concern, involv­
ing as it did the personal relations between Shaikh Sagar of Shargah and his
uncle, Shaikh Salim bin Sultan, which are at present unsatisfactory partly
owing to the ill-concealed mutual aversion of lifelong standing existing be­
tween them and partly in connection with the Abu Musa case.
Attention has mainly been directed however to Dcbai affairs. Here, as
will be seen from previous reports, the Shaikh is a difficult character and has
been a most unsatisfactory ruler from the first, and it was unfortunate that
the scene of the " Hyacinth " incident should happen to have been laid at