Abstract: Following on from the previous file (IOR/R/15/6/183), this file mainly concerns issues arising in relation to the boundary between Muscat-controlled Gwadur [Gwadar] and the state of Kalat. It features the following principal correspondents: the British Agent, Gwadur; the Political Agent and Consul, Muscat; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Agent to the Governor-General and Chief Commissioner in Baluchistan; the Minister of External Affairs, Muscat and Oman; the Sultan of Muscat and Oman [Sa‘īd bin Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; officials of the Government of India's External Affairs Department.The file includes discussion of the following: reports that Kalat state authorities are building a road which will pass through Muscat territory; reports of coast watchers of Kalat state patrolling in the Gwadur area; details of the Gwadur district, including its extent and limits, its customs and its population size; reports of Muscat subjects being mistreated and subjected to forced labour in Kalat state; the case for laying down a 'working line' of the Gwadur-Kalat boundary for the benefit of British political officers on each side, and whether the Sultan of Muscat and Oman and the Khan of Kalat should both be informed of such an arrangement; whether the question of the formal demarcation of the Gwadur-Kalat boundary should be reopened; dissatisfaction among neighbouring tribal leaders near Gwadur over the Sultan of Muscat's recent decision to cease paying their annuities.Also included in the file are four maps depicting Gwadur and the surrounding region. The Arabic language material mainly consists of correspondence between British officials in the Gulf and representatives of Muscat and Oman.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 107; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-106; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Abstract: This volume is mainly comprised of correspondence relating to the boundary between Muscat-controlled Gwadur [Gwadar] and the state of Kalat. Much of the correspondence discusses longstanding British concerns that the boundary should be officially defined and demarcated before any valuable minerals are discovered in the area. A settlement of the boundary is initially suggested in May 1913 by the Agent to the Governor-General and Chief Commissioner in Baluchistan (Lieutenant-Colonel J Ramsay); the issue is raised again in May 1938, with the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Sir Trenchard Craven William Fowle) making the case for the establishment of a small boundary commission for the purpose of settling the frontier dispute.The volume includes discussion of the following: the Sultan of Muscat's concerns regarding a reported Trans-Persian railway survey near Gwadur in 1912; territorial disputes between the Gwadur and Mekran authorities; trade disputes between Kalat and Muscat (also spelled as Maskat and Masqat in the earlier correspondence); whether the Burmah Oil Company and Indian Oil Concessions Limited should be permitted to negotiate with the Sultan of Muscat, in spite of the fact that the Sultan cannot grant an oil concession without the Government of India's approval; the likelihood of the Khan of Kelat being in favour of demarcation; travel arrangements and expenses for the proposed boundary commission; the alleged crossing of the Gwadur boundary by Kalat state officials; rumours of the Khan of Kalat's intentions to invade Gwadur; reported incidents between Muscat and Kalat subjects.The volume features the following principal correspondents: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Political Agent and Consul, Muscat; the Agent to the Governor-General and Chief Commissioner in Baluchistan; the British Agent, Gwadur; the Sultan of Muscat; the Director of the Persian Gulf Section of the Indo-European Telegraph Department; the Assistant Political Agent, Mekran; officials of the Government of India's External Affairs Department.Also included in the volume is a sketch map of Gwadur and the surrounding region. The Arabic language material mainly consists of correspondence between British representatives and the Sultan of Muscat. The file also includes a small amount of correspondence in Farsi.Whilst the volume includes material dating from 1912 to 1942, it should be noted that there is no material covering the period of 1920-1936.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 215; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 62-202; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The volume comprises correspondence in English and Arabic between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Trenchard Craven Fowle), the Political Agent at Muscat (Ralph Ponsonby Watts), the India Office (John Percival Gibson, John Charles Walton), the Secretary to the Government of India, External Affairs Department (Olaf Kirkpatrick Careo, William Rupert Hay), the Agent to the Governor General for Baluchistan (Alfred Alan Lethbridge Parsons), the Sultan of Muscat (Sayyid Sa‘īd bin Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd), the Burmah Oil Company (William Ernest V Abraham, W A Gray, John H L Brownrigg) and Indian Oil Concessions Limited (Hamilton R Ballantyne, Lloyd Nelson Hamilton, Joseph Paul McCulloch) regarding a possible concession for the Jabal-i-Mehdi [Koh Mehdi] area of Gwadur [Gwadar] belonging to the Sultan of Muscat.The correspondence covers initial enquiries by both companies to His Majesty’s Government expressing interest in a concession through to the commencement of negotiations and the submission of draft concession agreements for the Sultan’s consideration.Also discussed in the volume is the boundary between Gwadur and Kalat [Kalāt] which would need to be demarcated before approval could be given for an oil concession at Gwadur. The correspondence discusses relations between the Khan of Kalat (Aḥmad Yār K̲h̲ān) and the Sultan of Muscat, including recent disagreements between both parties over customs and trade, and suggesting possible processes that could be followed in order to demarcate the boundary.A series of file notes which were maintained as a record of the correspondence in the volume can be found at folios 206-216.Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 221; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 6-216; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.
Abstract: Correspondence, notes, and memoranda relating to relations between Kalat State and Gwadur [Gwadar], the latter being part of the Sultan of Muscat's territory.the Kalat State's request for postal and telegraphic offices to be established at Jiuni [Jīwanī] and for British India Steam Navigation Company steamers to make fortnightly calls therethe Burmah Oil Company Limited's application for an oil prospecting licence in the Gwadur areathe demarcation of the boundary between the two territories, necessitated largely by oil explorationthe Sultan's complaints about a blockade of Gwadur by the Kalat State and encroachments over the border by Kalat State officials and American geologistsarrangements for a meeting between the Sultan of Muscat and the Khan of Kalat (which never took place)the Royal Air Force's use of facilities in Gwadur and Jiwanithe question of the strategic importance of Gwadur to the British and whether to induce the Sultan to sell the enclave back to the Kalat Statethe status of Kalat following India's independence and the creation of the Dominion of Pakistan, including a memorandum by the Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations, dated 12 September 1947, that deals with the legislative and political relations between certain 'Princely States' and the Dominion of India (folios 42-51).The principal correspondents include the Government of India (External Affairs Department), Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Political Agent at Kalat and Chagai, Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan, Political Agent at Muscat, Admiralty, Air Ministry, British Agent at Gwadur, Commonwealth Relations Office, and the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Pakistan.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 203; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-203; these numbers are also written in pencil and circle.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: Correspondence regarding the position of independent Indian States with regard to the 1926 'International Convention with the object of Securing the Abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade', a copy of which is found on folios 27-32. The correspondence is between: Government of India, Foreign and Political Department; Government of India, External Affairs Department; The Secretary to the Crown Representative; the Political Officer in Sikkim; the General Secretary and Judicial Secretary to the Maharaja of Sikkim; the Agent to the Governor General in Baluchistan; and the Chief Secretary to the Government of the North-West Frontier Province.The papers discuss the application of the convention to some of the Indian 'Princely States' and cover the effort to ascertain their positions in this regard. The states involved are Sikkim, Kalat, Las Bela, and Chitral.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 33; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The part contains reports, correspondence, and printed copies of correspondence, relating to affairs on the frontiers between Persia [Iran] and British Baluchistan [Pakistan], as well as between British Baluchistan and Afghanistan. The part includes: reports of unrest and desertion amongst the Zhob militia in 1916, and losses incurred as a result, as reported by the Political Agent at Zhob, Major Arthur le Grand Jacob; the granting of financial rewards to officers and men in the Zhob militia who did not desert during the Third Anglo-Afghanistan War in 1919; the continuance of funds towards a number of British border forces in 1921, including the Swat Levies and the Mekran Levy Corps; discussion of the future arrangements for the administration of those parts of Mekran [Makran] under the authority of the Khanate of Kalat, 1922; reports on the Kalat administration; the disposal of the Mirjawa [Mīrjāveh] to Duzdap [Zahedan] railway; and the transfer of control over tribes in the Sarhad district of Persian Baluchistan, from the British to the Persian authorities, March 1924.The part’s principal correspondents are: the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India; the Agent to the Governor-General, Resident and Chief Commissioner, Baluchistan; the Political Agent at Kalat, Terence Humphrey Keyes; the Foreign Office; and HM Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary at Tehran.Physical description: 1 item (446 folios)