Page 425 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

Questions affecting the Arms Trade, 1883—1887.

1. In February, 1883, news was received that a telegram had passed through
Aleppo, advisin" the shipment from Paris of 80,000 Remington cartridges for
Basrah and offering to supply as many more with the necessary rifles by
another maker. Later, in May, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf reported
that the 80,000 cartridges were for His Royal Highness the Zil-es-Sultan and
were intended for 80 Remington rifles purchased by that Prince.
2. In November, 1884, the Secretary of State requested the Government of
India to afford facilities for the transhipment of certain ammunition purchased by
the Zil-es-Sultan for importation into Persia.
3. In April, 1887, the Persian Government Agent at Jask raised the question
as to the right of the telegraph officials to land their private guns and ammunition,
and in this connection Her Majesty’s Chargd d’Affaires, Tehran, pointed out that
special permits were always required for the importation of guns.

Amendment of the Indian Arms Act, XI of 1878.
4. In March, 1888, the Bombay Government represented the difficulty they
were continually experiencing through being asked to grant export licenses for
ammunition or arms other than cannon to Maskat. It was pointed out that
rule 6 of the rules issued under the Arms Act, 1878; dealt with the export of
certain arms and ammunition by sea at seven ports and for no other ports, and
further that this rule seemed to deal only with British ports of import and not to
touch the case of export from British port to port beyond the jurisdiction of the
Government of India. It was further shown that for exports by sea there
appeared to be no rule or limitation provided by the Government of India, and
that our jurisdiction was exhausted once the vessel had left our shores although
existing in full force before the arms are exported. This being the case, the
Bombay Government were of opinion that it was worth consideration whether
the Government of India should not impose some restriction on export to Maskat
and other places in the Gulf by requiring the Political Officers there to give a
permit to import.
5. In reply, the Government of India expressed the opinion that it was not
necessary at present to impose any special restriction, but that it would probably
be sufficient that a copy of every license issued for the conveyance of arms to
Maskat, should be communicated to the Polifical Agent at that place, who would
be instructed to ascertain, as far as possible, the ultimate destination of all such
consignments and to report to the Government of India if he had reason to
believe that importation to Native States in India was practised to any serious
extent.
6. Following on this representation, the Bombay Government in May, 1888,
stated that the Agent of the British India Steam Navigation Company, Bombay,
had applied for a license to tranship for Bahrein, for sale, a consignment of 72
cases containing arms and ammunition which had arrived from Zanzibar; the
Government of India were requested to pass orders in the case, and also as to
whether all applications for export of arms and ammunition to the Gulf should be
referred for sanction to India.
Acting on the advice of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the
Government of India replied that the license to transmit arms to Bahrein might
be refused, and in reply to the further point raised, the Bombay Government were
informed that applications of the nature mentioned need not ordinarily be
referred for the orders of the Government of India, but that each case might be
dealt with by the Government of Bombay in communication with the Resident in
the Persian Gulf, the action taken being reported to the Foreign Department for
information.
7. In answer to enquiries made by the Agents to the British India Steam
Navigation Company, the Government of India informed them that the license
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