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been plundered. It is understood that of the properly stolen in the two piracies '-which
occurred in August 1809, n portion, valued at about Its. 2,PG7, has been recovered by Sheikh
Ahraed-bin-Thani, the Hilling Sheikh of Katar, but that no effort has been made by him to
recover the remainder of the property whioh was looted on thoso two occasions or to exact
redress from the Hedouins who committed the smaller outrage at Graiinia Pearl Bank in
August 1000. You may suggest that, in order to obtain compensation for the sufferers by
these piracies, the properly of the Katar Chief in Bahrein should be attached, or that, as an
alternative, the eases should be allowed to drag. A third altcinaturc which was suggested iu
your letter No. 270, dated the 19th November 1900, would he to send a boat expedition to
punish the villages from which the pirates embarked.
The Government of India have decided, in view of the time which has elapsed since the
occurrence of these piracies, and of certain pre-occupations in other parts of the Persian Gulf,
that active measures for the exaction of redress from the Sheikh of Katar or from the offend­
ing villages cannot now be wisely or profitably undertaken, and that the eases must be allowed
to drop. Having regard, however, to the language held by Colonel Meade to the Shaikh in
November 1899, the Government of India have come to their present decision with reluctance,
and they cannot but regret that, owing to the want of definite proposals from the successive
Political Residents, the opportunity for exacting full and timely reparation for those outrages
should have been allowed to pass. In the opinion oE the Government of India, some speedy
measures of redress should be adopted in future if such outrages arc repeated; and, in tho
eveut of any fresh case of piracy occurring off the Katar peninsula, the Political Resident
should not only cause the property of the Katar Chief in Bahrein to be attached until redress
is given, but should also submit proposals at once for a boat expedition against the villages
immediately concerned, if that appears to be the best and most effective method of indicting
punishment and enforcing reparation.”

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