Page 791 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

PERSIAN GULF POLITICAL RESIDENCY, 1920. 57

Government property, such as tlie Sultan’s yacht the Nur-al-Balir was
disposed of.
Inspite of these drastic measures the financial outlook appeared gloomy
and the Sultan’s privy purse and the salary of Saiyid Nadir had temporarily
to he reduced.
The customs sustained a considerable loss by the return of the Director
Saiyid Yusuf to Egypt in February for reasons of health. Abdul Salam
Effendi who succeeded him however proved a vigorous and efficient admiiiisj-
tiator, organising customs at Sur and on the Batinah coast when the Muscat
arrangements had been completed. A set of customs rules was framed early
in the year, and has worked satisfactorily.
A treasury was instituted and a treasury officer, Mohammed Khan whp
had been iD the Mesopotamian administration was appointed.
The regulation of the expenditure coincided with a welcome rise in the
receipts, due to more efficient working, and the first financial year of the State
which closed on the 30th September 1920 showed the State with a cash balance
of Its. 3,51,000 in its treasury, lteceipts had totalled Rs. 11,66,386 and expen­
diture Rs. 8,13,774 compared with the estimated Its. 10,76»400 and
Rs. 9,01,280 of the first rough budget.
The budget for the year 1st October 1920 to 30th September 1921 shows
an estimated income of Rs. 14,29,400 excluding the opening balance, and an
expenditure of Rs. 11,61,480. Included under the expenditure heading are Rs.
93,480 towards the repayment of the loan Rs. 78,000 for the purchase of motor
boats, and Rs. 1,85,000 for the expenses of the levy.
During the months of October, November and December the income was
Rs. 3,56,720 and the expenditure Rs. 2,92,780 including Rs. 46,740 towards
the repayment of the loan and Rs. 83,0u0 for the purchase of motor boats.
Cn the 31st December therefore the State had a cash balance of Rs. 3,89,740.
The slight discrepancy is due to the dollar assets being valued at Rs. 2 to the
dollar instead of at Rs. 2-8 as formerly owing to the fall in the exchange.
The year may therefore be considered as a successful one from the
financial point of view. Almost all salaries, including those of the outside
.administrations are paid from the central treasury, and with the exception of
at Guadur and Sehar all receipts are oredited to the central treasury. It is
expected that these two ports will be included in the central customs adminis­
tration during the course of next year.

(b) System of administration.
A change in the actual system of administration took place on the d« par-
lurj of the Sultan to India at the beginning of March. On former occasions
-Saiyid Nadir, one of his brothers bad been left in charge, but with the presence
of a British adviser, and with the necessity of allowing the latter a free hand
to organise the administration, such a course was clearly inadvisable, and the
British adviser at the Sultan’s request and by his order was left in charge of the
State during his absence.
Till this officer left on leave in the middle of June he remained in complete
charge, and the vigour of his administration combined with the thoroughness of
organisation was such that the State was governed by Mohammad bin Ahmad,
the Wali of Muttrah, as acting wazir during his absence and the continued
absence of tho Sultan in India with equal success during a period of consider­
able difficulty.
The situation caused by the attitude of the Sultan and his continued
absence in India, events in the interior of Oman, and above all the fact that
the British adviser had been able to do sufficient in the way of reform to justify
the obviously desirable experiment being made of.leaving the State in entirely
Arab hands, now rendered his further employment unnecessary and inadvisable.
(See below under attitude of the Sultan.) On the 1st October therefore by
order of the Sultan, then in India, the acting wazir handed over his functions
•to a Council of Ministers created for the purpose of carrying on the adminis-
t ju of tho State.