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61. Political No. 225 of 1874, Forwarding a Copy of Correspondence with the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf Regarding the Alleged Evasion of Customs Duties at Bushire by Persian Subjects who are Employed as Agents of British Merchants
- Description:
- Abstract: This item consists of a copy of a Political Despatch from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India, dated 25 December 1874, forwarding for information a copy of correspondence with the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf regarding the alleged evasion of customs duties at Bushire [Bushehr] by Persian [Iranian] subjects who are employed as Agents of British merchants.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 601, and terminates at f 604, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The sequence contains one foliation anomaly: f 601a.
62. Sind Affairs: Matters Relating to Sind, Kelat and Afghanistan
- Description:
- Abstract: This item comprises enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee [Bombay Secret Letter], No. 15 dated 16 February 1856. The enclosures are dated 14 January-4 Feburary 1856.The papers comprise two reports forwarded by Henry Bartle Edward Frere, Commissioner in Sind [Sindh], to the Governor and President in Council, Bombay, as follows:The annual report on the ‘Political State of the Province of Sind’ for the year 1855, by Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob, Political Superintendent on the Frontier of Upper Sind, 4 January 1856 (ff 229-231). Frere commends Jacob for the ‘tranquil’ state of the West and North West Frontiers and the treaty with Khan of Kelat [Kalat], and welcomes the ascendancy of Dost Mahomed Khan [Dūst Muḥammad Khān Bārakzāy] at Kandahar especially since it has led to the ‘restoration of order’, the reduction of ‘excessive duties’, and the encouragement of trade and commerceExtracts of the ‘Digest of Intelligence of the Customs Department, Kurrachee [Karachi]’, 10-31 December 1855 (ff 234-241), notably recommending that now is a good time to suggest to Ameer [Emir] Dost Mahomed Khan a reduction in ‘oppressive duties’ (especially on wool) levied on the import trade at Candahar [Kandahar], in order to boost commerce.Also included are a Resolutions of the Board approving of Jacob’s report, and forwarding extracts, or portions, of the Customs Department digest to the Government of India and other relevant departments and authorities.Physical description: 1 item (16 folios)
63. Aden Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: Copies of correspondence, minutes and other papers relating to British administration of Aden subsequent to its capture by the British in January 1839, chiefly instructions from the Government of India to Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Political Agent in Aden.The papers mainly concern:Arrangements for security and policing in Aden in light of recent attacks and robberies allegedly committed by ‘marauding parties’ of Bedowins [Bedouins], including proposal for an ‘Arab Mounted Police’ and the expediency of utilising Arabs for this purposeStipends or allowances to be paid by the British to certain Arab chiefs in return for the latter guaranteeing to protect the roads and communications into the interior, including limits on the amount to be expended by Haines and the terms and conditions of paymentsReimbursement of Haines’s expenses incurred in paying stipends and entertaining Arab chiefs visiting the ResidencyDeferment of a decision regarding claims by Arab chiefs for loss of tribute previously received from port duties prior to the British capture of AdenProposal to send three captured Turkish brass guns to Queen Victoria in EnglandViews of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Dickinson, Chief Engineer at Bombay [Mumbai], on Captain Robert Foster’s plans for the fortification of Aden and construction of new buildings (ff 355-358)Petitions from the merchants of Aden to the Governor in Council, regarding heavy customs duties levied on goods using the port, considering former British promises to abolish them for five years (ff 360 and 362), including table of duties charged on goods imported and exported by sea and transiting to and from the interior (ff 371-372)Letter from Shiekh Kasim Bin Sueed of Surhub [Shaikh Qasim bin Sa'id al-Sharjabi] to the Governor in Council requesting British assistance in his hostilities against ‘the Turks’ [Ottomans].The principal correspondents are: John Pollard Willoughby, Secretary to the Government in India, and Thomas Herbert Maddock, Officiating Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor-General.There is a note before the papers commence stating: ‘Enclosure in Bombay Secret Letter No. 59, dated 8th May 1839, is missing from this collection’.Physical description: The papers are not in chronological order.
64. Aden Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 85 of 1847, dated 1 October 1847. The enclosures are dated 15 July-28 September 1847.The primary correspondents are: Stafford Bettesworth Haines, Captain Indian Navy and Political Agent at Aden; the Secretary to the Government, Bombay; and the Military Board, Bombay. Relevant enclosures include: correspondence between Haines and Captain James Kilner, Executive Engineer, Aden; letters from Kilner to the Brigade Major, Aden, the Superintending Engineer at Aden and the Superintending Engineer at Poona [Pune]; letters from Brigadier W Spiller, Commanding the Aden Field Force, to the Quartermaster-General of the Army, Poona, and from the latter to the Secretary to the Government, Military Department, Bombay. The item also includes several minutes of the Governor and President in Council and the members in Council, Bombay.The documents chiefly relate to a dispute between Haines and Kilner regarding the latter’s method of procuring kirby [stalks of the bajra grass, or pearl millet, also spelled ‘kurbee’ in this item] for the Engineer Department at Aden (ff 223-252).Haines complains that Captain Kilner has:Acted contrary to the civil and military orders by purchasing forage, especially kirby, directly from the local inhabitants of Lahidge [Lahej, also spelled Lahedge in this item] outside the Turkish Wall (boundary wall of the Aden settlement) instead of at the Aden marketUsed a contractor (a ‘Mr Weiss’, the ‘Coral and Sand Contractor’) to arrange kirby procurement, and to purchase articles arriving by boat without obtaining the necessary customs permitsCaused potential tensions between the local inhabitants and the British and ‘injured’ the Aden market.Kilner counter-complains about Haines, notably stating that:There is no explicit prohibition on purchasing outside the walls or from the interiorHaines interfered unduly in having Lieutenant Charles John Cruttenden, the Political Assistant, interrogate Mr Weiss at the police officeHis methods actually save money for the Government, especially since prices in the Aden market are more than double what he pays and the quality of market kirby is particularly poorCustoms permits should not be required for ‘trifling articles’ such as mats and basketsHaines has recently made specific arrangements to prevent locals bringing articles from the interior for the Engineer Department.Ultimately the authorities in Bombay communicate that whilst Kilner must conform with the rules of the Political Agent for procuring supplies, the price of kirby has now risen so high it is impossible to purchase it and ‘Government looks to [the Political Agent] to take secure measures to avert such complaints of excessive dearth’ and ensure that plentiful supplies find their way to the Aden market (f 249).Other matters covered in the item are as follows:The visit of Mahomed Eschreff Bey [Muḥammad Sharīf Beg], Commissioner from the Sublime Porte [Government of the Ottoman Empire] to the sea port towns of the Arabian coast, including: Haines’s concern that the extension of [Ottoman] Egyptian and Turkish influence in the area (notably at Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] and Mocha) may affect Aden’s trade with Zeyla [Zeila] and Berbera (notably the trading fair at Berbera); and Haines’s request, approved by the authorities in Bombay, that a vessel of war be dispatched to monitor the spread of Turkish influenceThe plundering of the ‘Interior Kafilah [caravan]’ due to various members of the Agribi [‘Akrabī], Subei [Subaīhī] and Azeibi [‘Uzaybī] tribes ‘retaliating each other in consequence of some petty feud between them’ (f 221)Rumours that Sultan Hamed Abdalla Foutheli [Aḥmad bin Abdullāh al-Faḍlī] will meet Sultan Hamed M’ Houssain [Aḥmad bin Muḥsin al-‘Abdalī] of Lahidge at ‘Sheik Othman’ [Shaykh Uthman] to settle their disputes including over Sheik Hydra ibn Maidee of Bir Ahmed [Shaikh Ḥaydarah bin Mahdī of Bi’r Ahmad].Note: The last two enclosures, the Bombay Timessummary of Intelligence and Bombay Overland Telegraph and Courier, are noted as ‘Missing 30.10.1906’.Physical description: 1 item (45 folios)
65. Aden Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This part of the volume consists of copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 37 of 1850, dated 25 July 1850. The enclosures are numbered 3-8, and are dated 16 June to 15 July 1850.The enclosures consist of a minute from the Government of Bombay, and correspondence. They relate to letters from the Political Agent at Aden, Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines, to the Government of Bombay, reporting matters including:Daily communication and traffic from the ‘Arab tribes’ adjacent to Aden continuing to be ‘unmolested’, supplies at Aden being abundant, and the inhabitants continuing to be healthyThe ‘Arab’ who murdered the European seaman in the boat belonging to the Aucklandon 29 May not having yet been secured, and having escaped to the Subeihi [Subaīhī] territory, but the efforts of Sultan Ali M’Houssain [‘Alī I bin Muḥsin al-‘Abdalī, Sulṭān of Lahej] to capture him being ‘strenuous’An enclosed report from Lieutenant Adams of affairs at Mussowa [Massawa] and Abyssinia [the Ethiopian Empire], Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] and Mocha, including the state of trade and duties levied on British Indian merchants, and the Pasha promising to give protection and assistance to all British subjects and those under British protection.The correspondence is between: the Government of Bombay; Haines; the Secretary to the Government of India with the Governor General, Sir Henry Miers Elliot; Lieutenant G N Adams, commanding the Honourable Company’s schooner of war Constance; and HM Consul in Abyssinia [Ethiopia], Walter Plowden.Physical description: 1 item (14 folios)
66. Muscat Affairs
- Description:
- Abstract: This item comprises a copy of an enclosure to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 93 of 1846, dated 28 August 1846. The enclosure is dated 24 April 1846.The primary document is a despatch from Captain Atkins Hamerton, HM Consul and Honourable Company’s Agent in the Dominions of HH the Imaum [Imam] of Muscat [also spelled Muskat in this item], based in Zanzibar, to the Chief Secretary to the Government, Bombay.In his despatch Hamerton reports on the friendly relations for some time existing between himself and the Imam, ever since the receipt by the Imam of a letter dated 27 November 1844 from Lord Aberdeen [Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]. Hamerton also refers to the frequent complaints formerly made against him by the Custom Master and the Imam’s Secretary, which were the result of his ‘breaking down a system from which they and many others derived considerable pecuniary advantages’.Physical description: 1 item (4 folios)
67. Coll 28/31 ‘Persia. Judicial; Law relating to entry & residence of foreigners’
- Description:
- Abstract: Correspondence and other papers relating to the Persian Government’s introduction of new legislation, under which foreigners entering or resident in Persia [Iran] had to notify their presence in the country with the Persian authorities. Included in the file are copies and extracts of the new legislation, in French original, as well as in English and Urdu translation, which also includes details of new visa and customs legislation.Correspondence between the India Office (George William Rendel), Foreign Office (Charles William Baxter), British Legation in Tehran (Robert Henry Clive; Charles Dodd; Reginald Hervey Hoare), and the Government of India, discusses the implications of the new legislation for British and other foreign interests in Persia, including: British consular officers in Persia; the Anglo-Persian Oil Company; British vessels visiting Persian ports in the Persian Gulf; foreigners in motor cars in Persia; pilgrims travelling from India to Iraq via Persia.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 65; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
68. Coll 17/7(1) 'Iraq and Palestine: agreement for transit through Palestine of goods to and from Iraq; Baghdad-Haifa railway'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume contains correspondence, reports and minutes regarding road and rail transport through Iraq, Trans-Jordan [Jordan], Palestine, Syria and Iran. The following topics are discussed in detail:The proposed construction of a Baghdad-Haifa rail route. The file also includes records regarding the planned transfer of the Iraqi Government Railway from British to Iraqi control.Transport developments and trade routes in Syria, and economic competition between French- and British- mandated territories in the region.Proposals for the development of free zones at the port in Haifa, for Iraqi and Persian [Iranian] goods. This includes discussion of customs dues, and facilities to be offered to foreign governments.Proposals by Haim Effendi Nathaniel, the Iraqi Railways Canvassing Agent, for facilities to assist in the development of a trans-desert motor route between Iraq and Palestine, and the right to carry Iraqi mails via the Amman ['Ammān] route.Customs and Trade Agreements between French-mandated territories and Iran.The principal authors and correspondents are: HM High Commissioner for Palestine; HM High Commissioner for Iraq; the Foreign Office Eastern Department; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; HM Minister at Tehran; and the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East. The volume also contains a small number of communications received from the Government of Iraq.The volume contains the following items of note:Minutes of a meeting between the Iraqi Treasurer and Haim Effendi Nathaniel, regarding the Baghdad-Haifa Desert Motor Route, held on the 18 January 1933, ff 425-428.Records of a meeting between the Treasurer, the Iraqi Delegation, and the Director of Customs at Palestine, regarding the proposed free zone facilities at Haifa for Iraqi goods, and the establishment of terminal facilities and a preferential tariff, ff 371-392.Draft minutes of a meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, held Monday 17 July 1933, regarding: 1) the proposed pipeline from the British Oil Development Company's concession near Mosul to the Mediterranean, and 2) the Trans-Desert Railway from Baghdad to Haifa. Plus related despatches received from Baghdad, Aleppo and Beirut, notes on the strategic value of the Baghdad-Haifa railway by the Secretaries of State for Air and War, ff 326-357.Communication from the High Commissioner for Iraq (Francis Henry Humphrys) to the Foreign Secretary (John Simon), summarising the development of road and rail transport routes between Iraq, Syria and Palestine from 1925-1934, ff 247-249.English translation of the Decree of the French High Commissioner in Syria, 'Governing the Regime of Customs Exemptions granted to Transdesert Transport Concerns maintaining regular services of the transport of international transport goods', ff 222-236.Minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, held 11 and 23 October 1934, regarding the proposed Baghdad-Haifa route, ff 139-177, 90-107, and 70-89.Memorandum on the Baghdad-Damascus desert route, prepared by the Commercial Secretary to the Baghdad Embassy, 1935, ff 5-10.The volume also contains a proposal by the Palestine Corporation Limited to construct a highway connecting Palestine and Iraq, found at folios 14-30. This proposal is discussed in depth in the second part of the file, IOR/L/PS/12/2852.The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 1).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 526; these numbers are written in pencil, 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 two leading and ending flyleaves. A previous foliation sequence has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
69. Coll 28/71 ‘Persia. Wireless Stations operated by the I. & I. C. Ltd. in Persia.’
- Description:
- Abstract: Correspondence concerning the importation of stores and equipment for wireless stations in the Persian Gulf (at Bushire, Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām], Jask, and Charbar [Chabahar]) operated by Imperial and International Communications Limited (I&ICL), amid the handover of the stations to the Persian Government. The file is a chronological continuation of papers found in Coll 28/26 ‘Relations with H.M.G Importation of Stores for I.E.T.D. Staff’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3423). The correspondence focuses on the payment of customs duty on materials imported by I&ICL, and efforts to negotiate an exemption of the payment of duty with the Persian Government. The file’s principal correspondents are: various representatives of I&ICL; HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Tehran; the Foreign Office.The file includes a printed copy of the 1932 agreement (in English and French) between the British and Persian Governments, for the withdrawal of the Indo-European Telegraph Department from Persia (ff 116-119).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 inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 233; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
70. Official Note from Soliman Pashaw to Harford Jones
- Description:
- Abstract: A translation of an official note from Soliman Pashaw [Büyük Sulaymān Pāshā, Governor of Baghdad] to Harford Jones, Resident in Bagdad [Baghdad], undated.The letter concerns Soliman Pashaw’s dispute with the Imaum [Imam] of Muscat [Sulṭān bin Aḥmad Āl Bū Sa’īd], describing the detention of ships from Bussora [Basra] in Muscat and disputes concerning customs duties, and asks Jones to refer the matter to the Governor of Bombay.Physical description: 1 item (2 folios)
71. File J/47 Orders issued by Political Agent under King's Regulations
- Description:
- Abstract: This file contains orders issued by the Political Agent in Bahrain that regulate trade, customs duties, profit margins, and penalties on infringement of such trade regulations collectively known as the King's Regulation No. 1. In addition to lists of goods subject to particular regulatory taxes or trading procedures, the file contains itemised tables of imported goods, their respective origins, and licensing procedures for their sale and distribution. The goods and regulations mentioned apply to a cross section of consumer goods in Bahrain from staple foods to the importation of motor cars.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 47; 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 2-46; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
72. File 5015/1919 Pt 1-3 'PERSIA:- REVISION OF CUSTOMS TARIFF'
- Description:
- Abstract: The volume relates to the revision of the Anglo-Persian Customs Tariff. It comprises three parts as follows:IOR/L/PS/10/856: Part 1, ‘Persia: Appointment of Financial Adviser’ (ff 249-295)IOR/L/PS/10/856: Part 2, ‘Persia: Appointment of Experts for Revision of Tariff’ (ff 159-248)IOR/L/PS/10/856: Part 3, ‘Persia: Revision of Customs Tariff’ (ff 4-158).Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (the front of each part).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 298; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.