Page 565 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

POLITICAL RESIDENCY FOR 1010. 69
but another cargo of some 360 rifles was found and seized by a landing party
from H. M. S. “ Proserpine ” on the 2nd November 1910. Until the end of
the year therefore very few rifles were landed, the practice of carrying small
consignments having been stopped by the burning of dhows proved to have
landed them.
The following statement kindly given me by the Senior Naval Officer,
Persian Gulf, is interesting :—

P&rticul&rs. 1909. 1910.

Numbor of dhow* destroyed . 6 7
Number of arm* captured . . 7,000 8,000
Number of rounds of ammunition captured 900,000 1,600,000
Percentage of expanding bullets . 3 per cent. 6 per ccuL
Percentage of modern rifles . • 83 per cent. 42 per cent.
o
The above table shews the result of each year about the same, but in real­
ity the seizures are nearly all made in the season 1909-10, the traffic for the
1910-11 season having so far been very small and only 610 rifles have been
captured. This activity on the part of His Majesty’s ships has naturally
affected the import of arms and ammunition to Maskat which fell frem
43,155 rifles, 1,103 pistols and 9,459,210 rounds of ammunition, valued at about
Rs. 15.51,426, in 1809, to 14,310 rifles, 786 pistols and 3,917,495 rounds of am-
munition, valued at Rs 6,20,550 in 1910. The reduced receipts from Customs
has affected the Sultan’s finances severely, as he levies 6 per cent, ad valorem
Customs duty plus a special tax of half-a-dolhr per rifle, and hence he has
for some time past been in considerable financial difficulties. It has also
affected the price of rifles, of the principal varieties of which the following
table shews the approximate prices at the end of 1909 and 1910 :—

Aems. AmUI'KITIOX.
Names. Local name.
1909. 1910. 1909. ! 1910.
I
Rs. Rs, Rs. Rs.
Lee-Speed rifle *303 magazine (10- Abu-Ashar 1H 80 100 60
shot).
Lee-Enfield ditto . Ditto 90 66 65 ! 60
Mauser Hunting rifle 7 m-m '5-shot) Filsi or Panj-liri 96 80 100* so*
Ditto 7*9 m-m (5-shot) Damudari 70
Roumanian Mannllcher carbine 6’5 , Rumani . 60 78*
90*
m-m (5 shot).
Mauser Pistol 7'63 m-ra 10-shot Worwar Abo-As bar . 75 40 l
Browning Pistol . Browning 30 25 50t! 45
Martini-Metford *303 (English) , Mauser (Martini) Lon­ 40 40 40 S s S3
don!.
Ditto (Foreign) Mauser (Martini) Bel- 35 85 I
giqui. ' 65 63
Martini-Henry rifl? -450 English) . Martini Kibir T.ondoni 40
Ditto carbine Do. Sagir , 40
Martini-Henry rifle *450 (Foreign) Do. Belgiqui 85 80 1
35
Ditto carbine . Do. Sagir . 85 65 53
Snider rifle , Snider 80 24
Gras rifle Fransawi 15 18 50 85
» carbine , , Fransawi Sagir 15 7-8 65
^erndl rifle 10 } 60
Soljeri 6 4 40 28
l
• In clip* of 5 cartridge* erch.
t In dip* of 10 < aitrd^a*.