Page 15 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

FOB THE YEAB 1912. 6
The modified scheme for lighting and buoying the Gulf put forward in 1911
was sanctioned by His Majesty’s Govern­
Lighting »nd Buoying.
ment early in the year: it included the
following items:—
Jaflk . 1 unlit buoy.
Little Quoin Island . • Lighthouse.
Bandar Abbas . , • 1 lighted and 1 unlighted buoy.
Tanb Island . Lighthouse.
Sbaikb Shuaib Island . Lighthouse.
Bushin) . . flighted buoyB and 2 lanterns for
Residency flagstaff.
Shatt-el-Arab bar . Light vessel on outer bar. Lighted
buoy on inner bar (in addition to
present unlighted buoys).
Bahrain . . 2 lighted and 1 unlighted bnoys.
An unlighted buoy was established at Bandar Abbas in March, and the
Lighthouse superstructure was landed at Tanb Island in October, and at the
end of the year Mr. C. J. Homer, an experienced Assistant Engineer of the
Public Works Department, was deputed by the Government of India for its
erection. Lighted buoys for Bushice and Bahrain arrived during the year, but
owing to various technical difficulties connected with their establisliment, it
was not found practicable to bring them into operation before its close.
Although the anarchy which prevailed throughout 1912 in Laristan and
the hinterland prevented His Majesty’s
Lingah.
Vice-Consul from seeing much of the in­
terior, it will be seen from Mr. New’s report that he was able during the year
to visit most of the Chiefs of the littoral, as well as the chief of the important
district of Bastak and to cultivate friendly relations with them, which have
already borne fruit in facilitating the settlement of local claims: in the latter
category reference may be made to the friendly and effective action of Shaikh
Sagar of Naband in promptly handing over to His Majesty’s Vice-Consul, three
men implicated in a bad case of piracy on a Kuwait boat: the men were taken
to Kuwait in H. M. S. “ Philomel,” and, after due enquiry by the Political
Agent, were handed over to Shaikh Mubarak : the case is still in course of disposal.
Lingah is the only Persian Port of the littoral visited to any great extent
by Arabs of Oman and the Trucial Coast and Bahrain, and the presence of a
British officer at Lingah has euabled us to give them much more effective
protection and assistance than formerly, a fact which there is reason to believe
they fully appreciate.
Captain Biscoe’s remarks regarding Monsieur Zwinne’s ill-conceived schemes
for strengthening his personal position aud influence at the expense of the Local
Government on the pretext of effecting financial reforms, and his inability to
keep faith either with His Majesty’s Consul or with the merchants, show that
Monsieur Zwiune has learnt little from past experience.
He dis played similar moral timidity, with much the same result, at Bushire
in 1909, and it was the same unfortunate tendencies which led to his enforced
departure from Moha mine rah at the beginning of 1911 {vide page 68, Adminis­
tration Repot for 1911).
The difficulties in which several Indian firms were involved at Bandar
Abbas, owing to the failure of Persian
B&ndar Abbas.
merchants to meet their obligations, thanks
to the prevailing anarchy and the insecurity of the trade routes, are of more
than merely local interest. It is noteworthy that Bandar Abbas is the only
post of importance on the Persian littoral where Indian merchants are estab­
lished in any numbers, and Kerman, likewise in the British sphere, the only
town in the interior where they are strongly represented. Apart, therefore,
from the imperial question of British interests in general the Government of
fridia are separately interested, to a peculiar degree, in the security of the
Bandar Abbas-Kerman route and in the commercial conditions prevailing at
®°th places; and in seeing that every assistance in our power is rendered to tkeso
Indian firms, who have successfully established themselves in the face of so many
difficulties, and maintained their position for over a century at Bandar Abbas.