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1. ‘File 35/137 II (A 61) Muscat state budget’
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume comprises submissions of monthly statements of the revenue and expenditure of the Muscat State for the period April 1932 to March 1933; and quarterly submissions of statements on the progress of loans and debts, along with the cash balance of the Muscat Treasury for the same period. All of the statements were submitted to the Residency by the Political Agency in Muscat, having been initially prepared by the Financial Adviser to the Muscat State (Captain Reginald Alban) and his assistant (Malik Duli Chand).Subjects of note in the volume include:A copy of the annual budget for the Muscat State for 1933, including: a review of the previous year, described by the Financial Adviser as ‘extremely unsettled’, chiefly as a result of a drop in global demand for Muscati exports, and details of the Muscat civil list (folios 60-98);Proposals from the Sultan of Muscat, Saiyid Said bin Taimur [Sa‘īd ibn Taymūr], on how the Muscat Government will address the shortfall in income (100,000 rupees) anticipated when the Arms Traffic Subsidy ceases in 1935 (folios 107-17);Copies of letters sent by Alban in his capacity as Financial Adviser, to his assistant, the Officiating Commandant of the Muscat infantry, and to the Sultan, with instructions for arrangements relating to the financial department during his absence from Muscat. Alban’s instructions chiefly address the prospect of interference in the Muscat finances by the Sultan (folios 148-59).The volume covers a period in which there were multiple changes of personnel in the Gulf, as a result of the sudden death of the Political Resident, Sir Hugh Biscoe, in July 1932. After Biscoe’s death, the Political Agent in Muscat (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle) became Political Resident, and the Financial Adviser to the Muscat State (Alban) became the Political Agent in Muscat.Physical description: Foliation is written in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto of each folio. It begins on the front cover with number 1, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 176. The following foliation anomalies occur: 1a-1f.
2. ‘File 35/137 III (A 63) Muscat state budget’
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume contains correspondence and other papers relating to the financial affairs of the Muscat State Government, including quarterly submissions of statements of revenue and expenditure, progress of loans and debt, and the cash balance of the Muscat treasury, for the period between July 1933 and July 1934. The chief correspondents in the file are Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, and Major Claude Edward Bremner, Political Agent in Muscat.The volume contains papers relating to the following topics:An investment of £3,000 made by the Muscat State Government’s Financial Adviser, Captain Reginald Alban, in Newfoundland Government stock. News of the bankruptcy of the Newfoundland Government, as reported in The Times(a press cutting of which is included in the volume, folio 18) led to British representatives in the Gulf seeking assurances of the security of the investment from Alban, who had by now resigned his post, and to the indignation of the Sultan of Muscat, Said Said bin Taimur [Sa‘īd ibn Taymūr] who had not been consulted by Alban over the investment;Repeated complaints and petitions made by the Sultan of Muscat’s brother, Nadir bin Faisal bin Turki [Nādir bin Fayṣal bin Turkī] to the Political Resident, over a reduction in his monthly salary from the Muscat State Government, which he claimed broke the terms of an agreement made between himself and the Sultan. The Resident ruled that the complaint was a private affair, and not one demanding British intervention;A report on the Muscat State financial year for 1933, with budget estimates for 1934 (folios 39-99);A revised budget, submitted by the Sultan of Muscat, in the absence of an appointed Financial Adviser, following Alban’s departure and subsequent resignation (folios 170-190).Physical description: Foliation: The volume is foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, using circled pencil numbers in the top-right corner of rectos. An earlier foliation system, using uncircled numbers in the top-right corner of rectos, runs intermittently throughout the volume. The following foliation anomalies occur: 1a, 1b, 3a, 36a. The following folios are fold-outs: 10, 11, 13, 24, 25, 27, 58-82, 84, 85, 89-98, 111, 112, 143, 144. The following folios are inserts: 18, 118, 140.
3. ‘File 35/137 IV (A 83) Muscat state budget’
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume contains correspondence, reports and other papers relating to the Muscat Government’s finances between March 1935 and January 1941. The principal correspondents in the volume are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (chiefly Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Fowle, who held the post up until August 1939), and the Political Agent at Muscat (chiefly Major Ralph Ponsonby Watts from June 1935 until April 1939, and Captain Tom Hickinbotham from April 1939).The volume is largely comprised of copies of the quarterly submissions received by the Political Agent at Muscat from the Muscat Government’s Director of Revenues, and then forwarded onwards to the Political Resident. These submissions include: statements of progressive receipts and expenditure for Muscat State, annual state budgets, and other items, such as cash on hand statements. The budget sheets give details of the various appointments and salaries across the Muscat Government’s various departments, including: the civil list, government employees, civil courts, Qadhis [Qādī], forts, police, defence, plus figures for transport, rations, arms and ammunition, building repairs, etc. The volume also includes correspondence between the Political Resident and the Secretary (or Deputy Secretary) to the Government of India, to whom copies of the Muscat State accounts were sent. This correspondence covers queries about the accounts, addressing discrepancies or unexpected rises and falls in the figures.At the front of the volume (folio 2) is a letter from the Political Agent in Muscat to the Political Resident, dated 11 January 1935, confirming that Saiyyid Nadir [Nādir bin Fayṣal bin Turkī] has finally accepted his reduced allowance from the State. Earlier correspondence on this matter can be found in the preceding subject file ‘File 35/137 III (A 63) Muscat state budget’ (IOR/R/15/1/450).Physical description: Foliation: The volume is foliated from the first folio to the last folio, using circled pencil numbers written in the top-right corner of each recto. A second foliation sequence is present between ff. 2-193; these numbers are written in either pencil or red crayon, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence. Circled index numbers in red crayon can also be found throughout the volume. The following foliation anomalies occur: 1, 1A and 1B. The following folios are fold-outs: 6-7, 13,36-37, 43-46, 53-54, 67, 86-87, 91-92, 96-97, 100-101, 129-130, 134, 160-161, 180-183, 186, 194.
4. 'File 9/2 II Bahrain Reforms: Finances of the Bahrain Government'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume’s correspondence and other papers concern Bahrain’s state budget, and the rising costs associated with the Bahrain civil list and the Āl Khalīfah family’s allowances. Most of the correspondence takes place between the Advisor to the Bahrain Government, Charles Dalrymple-Belgrave, and the Bahrain Political Agent, Colonel Geoffrey Prior. The volume is a chronological continuation of ‘File 9/2 II Bahrain Reforms: Finances of the Bahrain Government’ (IOR/R/15/2/128).The volume includes Belgrave’s budgets for Bahrain for the Hijri years 1347 (1928, folios 5-25) and 1348 (1929, folios 38-66). In these reports Belgrave gives great detail of the state’s expenditure on modernisation. For example, detailed reference of Bahrain’s education system, including the opening of a girls’ school, is given in the 1348 budget (folios 61-63).The remainder of the volume’s correspondence is chiefly related to Belgrave’s concerns over the continual financial increases being requested by Shaikh Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah to Bahrain’s civil list. Belgrave’s concern was that these allowances took up too great a proportion of the Bahrain state budget, and because the issue was primarily a political one, he deferred the issue to the Political Agent, who in turn referred the matter to the Political Resident. There are several copies of the civil list included in the file (for example, folios 81-83). Prior and Shaikh Ḥamad discuss Belgrave’s concerns about the increasing expenditure of the civil list in August 1929 (folios 84-90), with Shaikh Ḥamad raising the hope that revenues from other sources such as kerosene oil might alleviate financial problems.Physical description: Foliation: The volume is foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, using circled pencil numbers in the top-right corner of each recto. There is an earlier foliation system which runs through the volume, using blue pencil numbers in the top-right corner of recto pages.The following foliation anomalies occur: 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e.The following folios are foldouts: 11-13, 18, 19, 36, 46-48, 54, 85-89, 97, 105, 111, 112, 133, 134.
5. 'File 9/2 I Bahrain Reforms: Finances of the Bahrain Government'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume contains correspondence and papers relating to the finances of the Bahrain Government, and British officials' efforts to impose reforms on the Bahrain state finances.Many of the letters in the volume are discussions between the Political Agent at Bahrain (Major Clive Daly until September 1926, thereafter Colonel Cyril Barrett) and the Political Resident (Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Trevor until April 1924, thereafter Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Prideaux), about what needed to be done to regulate expenditure and generate income in Bahrain, with particular reference to the financial allowances given to members of the Al Khalifa family (for example folios 3-8, 27-29). The first monthly balance sheets, drawn up by Daly in December 1923, are enclosed (folios 32-38).A large portion of the file is made up of monthly accounts sheets (including Bahrain civil lists), sent by Eastern Bank Limited to the Political Agent (January 1924 accounts at folios 46-58, and subsequent months distributed throughout the volume). Correspondence from Claude de Grenier, Director of the Bahrain Customs House, enclosing customs house receipts and expenditure also figure prominently (for example, folios 80-81, 98-100). Notes on the annual Bahrain state budget for the Hijri years 1343 to 1346 (1924-1927), with balance sheets prepared by Daly (and later, Charles Dalrymple Belgrave) are also included in the file (folios 104-13, 187-90, 196-206, 231-46).The file also contains correspondence from Prideaux to the Secretary of the Political Department at the India Office in Whitehall, dated 15 September 1925, indicating that Prideaux has found a man (Belgrave) qualified to work as a financial advisor to the Government of Bahrain (folios 168-69, 172B-175).Physical description: Foliation: The main foliation sequence begins on the front cover and finishes on the back cover, using numbers written mainly in blue crayon (with additions, clarifications and corrections in pencil). The numbers are occasionally circled and are usually located in the top-right corner of the recto side of each folio, but can vary depending on the format of the folio.The following foliation anomalies occur: 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F; 157A and 157B. Foliation omissions: 61 and 179.The following folios are fold-outs: 1, 37-38, 45, 48-53, 55-56, 58, 62-63, 66-68, 71-83, 95-100, 107, 111, 113 and 125-129.The volume is tightly bound to the extent that the text on some items disappears into the gutter, making it difficult to read.
6. Coll 28/59 ‘Persia. Financial Situation’
- Description:
- Abstract: Reports on the general economic situation in Persia [Iran] as reported by staff at the British Legation in Tehran. The file includes: newspaper cuttings and typewritten extracts of articles in the Persian press (chiefly Le Messager de Teheran); budget statements issued by the Persian Government; statements of accounts published by the Banque Nationale de Perse (also referred to as the National Bank of Persia, later the Bank Melli Iran); reports from the Persian Board of Currency Control.Subjects of note covered by the volume include: the transfer of the monopoly of banknote issue from the Imperial Bank of Persia to the Banque Nationale de Perse; the Persian Government’s decision to change from a silver to gold standard in 1930, and the effect in Persia of Britain’s abandonment of the gold standard in the following year; the Persian Government’s appointment of Belgian financial experts to the Persian Treasury; a crisis in Persian currency exchange regulation, the Persian Government’s monopoly control on foreign trade, and the impact of both upon British subjects and commercial concerns in Persia; annual budgets of the Persian Government; the affairs of the National Bank of Persia during 1932-33, including allegations of financial wrongdoing by its German directors, Otto Vogel and Kurt Lindenblatt; Lindenblatt’s conviction and imprisonment in Persia; the appointment of another German, Walter Horschitz-Horst, as director of the bank; financial arrangements of the Trans-Persian Railway.The file’s principal correspondents are: HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Robert Henry Clive, Reginald Hervey Hoare; the Commercial Secretary at the British Legation in Tehran, Eric Ralph Lingeman.The volume includes a large number of items in French, including newspaper cuttings and reports and correspondence issued by the Persian Government and Banque Nationale de Perse.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 413; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.