Page 95 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920

POR THE YEAR 1912. 85
0f the the Customs at a cost of Rs. 5,000. Maskat now boasts of
C]CC There was another proposal to light the towns of Maskat and Muttra but
fa this Mr- Baiyanker did not succeed, as the necessary funds were not forth-
comtoS*
On the 11th August, Joakah bint Twaini bin Said, an influential and an
elderly member of the Sultan’s family, died. The Political Agent wrote a letter
of condolence to His Highness which was suitably acknowledged. Owing to
this event, His Highness did not celebrate the Ramazan Id festival as usual.
Shaikh Suleiman bin Abdur Rahim, the Baluoh Jamadar of the fort
jeiali, died on the 2nd of May.
On the 2nd of January, Saiyid Taimur, who had been to Bombay to wit­
ness the reception of Their Imperial Majesties, returned to Maskat and im­
mediately visited his father at Sib, returning to Maskat on the 6th. In May,
he made a short tour in the interior of Oman and, again in August, he spent
a fortnight on the Batina coast.
Saiyid Nadir visited Sur in “ Noor ul Bain ” in May. On the 19th
December he left again for Semail and remained in the interior till the close
of the year.
The event of the year in Maskat tribal history was the murder, in the
month of March, of Said bin Ibrahim,
Condition of the country.
ruler of Rostak, by his cousinst Ibrahim
and Muhammad, who were immediately afterwards killed by the soldiers
of the Sultan. Rostak has always been a thorn in the side of tthe ruler of
Oman, hut it does not appear that his influence has advanced there appreciably,
as Ahmed, the younger brother of Said bin Ibrahim, is ruling there
undisturbed.
Shaikh Buti bin Suhail, the late Shaikh of Debai, visited His Highness
the Sultan of Maskat in the month of March and stayed there some 10 days.
Early in May, there were troubles between the Hawasineh, headed by
Shaikhs Nasir and Saif bani Hamad and the Bani Oomar, as a result of which
the Hawasineh Shaikhs commandeered three boxes of ammunition which,
he forced British subjects, Khojas of Khabura, to buy. The Khojas were
however subsequently honestly repaid and the troubles subsided.
Rumours have been constantly flying about Maskat to the effect that a
universal rising of the Bedouins of the interior will take place as a protest
against His Highness’ arrangements for regulating the arms traffic. His High­
ness has also received many threatening letters, notably from Shaikh Isa bin
Saleh, A1 Harathi, the “ stormy petrel " of Oman politics, but nothing else has
come of all these manifestations, and it does not seem that tribal politics thin
year have been more disturbed than usual. The regulation of the arms traffic
should indeed, if successful and wisely used, go a long way towards restoring
the Sultan’s authority over the unruly tribesmen of the interior.
This problem has again absorbed the
Arm* Traffic.
energies of the Agency staff to the cxrio-
sion of more profitable occupation.
The usual returns accompany this report.
The actual figures for the steamer trade of 1912 are:—in German botfccnu^
^ 20,69,050; in British, Rs. 12,94,435; total Rs. 33,64,485 as against a total
Rs. 14,63,130 last year. A slight portion of this increase can be accounted Cor
a rise in the price of rifles and ammunition towards the closing half of the
year.. The rise in imports has been shared equally between.British and German

, , Another reason to account for the increased imports was that, from the
ginning of the year, the arms traffic fraternity were well aware that the
fltish authorities, in dose communication with His Highness the Sultan, wi
Plotting against their peace and profit and, on the 11th June, these negotiation*
^suited in the issue of a proclamation by His Highness, establishing the Aon
Rehouse and setting forth rules and regulations to govern the import ui
*p0rt of these dangerous goods. The date fixed for the enforcement of the