Page 493 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

60
FOR TUB TEAR '918.

CHAPTER IX.

administration REPORT FOR THE TRUCIAL COAST FOR THB
YEAR 1916.
Klian Bahadur Abdul Latif was Residency Agent throughout the year,
and continued to do very good work. lie
Personnel.
has great influence over the Shaikhs.
The year happily passed uneventfully
General.
on the Trucial Coast and there is little to
record.
The pearl market improved and tho 1016 pearl catch was quite up to
the average and perhaps rather above it.
The absence of mail and other steamers was a hardship: arrangements,
however, were made to send mails to and from Hen jam by dhow. Trade with
India has to a great extent been carried on by sailing vessels.
Nothing worthy of note occurred in
Raa-cl.KIioiraah.
Pvas-el-Khaimah.
Tho Shaikh of this principality continued to give trouble by intriguing
with various feudatories of the Qawasiin
Cram-ul-Qaiwain.
Shaikhs. He had to he warned to dis*
continue his intrigues on more than one occasion.
The year passed uneventfully in
Ajman.
Aj'man.
The only event of importance in Shargah was the revolt of the Headman
of Hamriyeh from the authority of the
Sharg&h.
Shaikh of Shargah. This occurred in March
and was due to the intrigues to tho Shaikh of Umm-ul-Qaiwain referred to
above.
The Shaikh of Shargah collected a force to suppress Hamriyeh, but was
unable to do it, because the latter was assisted by the Shaikh of Umm-ul-Qai-
wain and by Bedouin egged on by the latter. The hostilities thus prolonged
and the trade of both towns was damaged and, cveutually, the lives and property
of British subjects at Shargah became endangered. It accordingly became
necessary to intervene and the Commodore, Persian Gulf, was accordingly
asked to make arrangements. He despatched H. M. S. “ Philomel ” and
H. M. S. “ Clio ” to the scene, and after some preliminary negotiations, the
Shaikh of Shargah and the Headman of Hamriyeh repaired on board H. M. S.
“Clio/’ on the 30th March, and made peace signing an agreement before
Captain Hall Thompson, R. N.f and the Residency Agent.
The Shaikh of Uinm-ul-Qaiwain made some efforts to upset this agree­
ment and have a new one made through his intervention, but without success.
The only matters which caused correspondence were the establishment of
a dhow mail service with Henjam (refer-
Debai..
. red to above), and the everlasting question
or the “ Hamal Bashi ”, the individual who receives cargo from the steamers
and takes charge of it on the wharf and distributes it. A temporary working
arrangement has been arrived at, but the question will have to bo dealt with
naily when the war is over and a regular steam service is resumed.
,Ja Decernbcr 1915, the Shaikh’s watchman fired a shot across the bows of
. .?wJCav*no the creek by night contrary to the Shaikh’s orders, and
ncntally hit and killed one of the crew, a native of Charak near Lingah,
that ?i?nsidpra^e correspondence onsued, tho Shaikh of Charak at first insisting
dc watchman should be handed over to the relatives of the
aac(l boatman for punishment. As the watchman was only doing his duty