IOR/R/15/1/52

This file consists of correspondence received by the Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire, Major David Wilson, from various officials at the Government of Bombay. Correspondents include: Charles Norris, Chief Secretary to Government, Bombay; Robert Cotton Money, Acting Persian Secretary to Government and Secretary to the Bombay Native Education Society; and John Pollard Willoughby, Acting Secretary to Government, Bombay. One of Willoughby's letters (no. 2348, ff 6-9) is followed by enclosed copies of three letters, addressed to Colonel Samuel Goodfellow, Chief Engineer, Major Stratford Powell, Acting Adjutant General, and the President and Members of the Medical Board respectively.

The first letter of the file (see ff 2-5), from Charles Norris, Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, includes copies of a proclamation (in English, Arabic and Hindi), dated 31 December 1829, issued by Norris on behalf of the Honourable Governor in Council, John Malcolm. The proclamation refers to a recent Government Act which prohibits British subjects from serving under any foreign flag employed against the Turks, in any part of India or the Red Sea.

Most of the items in this file are circular letters which relate to matters across the Bombay Presidency and beyond. The prominent theme in these letters is education. Topics of discussion include the following: the Governor of Bombay's decision to reform the Engineer Institution under the new name, 'Government Institution', and place it under the control of the Government of Bombay, rather than that of the Chief Engineer; changes to the way in which the Native Medical institution is regulated; the circulation of a list of the Bombay Native Education Society's publications.

In one of only two letters addressed directly to the Resident in the Persian Gulf (see ff 28-29), David Wilson is given authorisation to warn local Arab chieftains that the British Government will not permit any acts which attempt to weaken the power of the Imam of Muscat [Sa‘īd bin Sultān Āl Bū Sa‘īd]. Enclosed with this letter are copies of two letters addressed to the Honourable Governor of Bombay, John Malcolm: a substance of a letter from Syyud Mahomed bin Salim, Regent of the Imam of Muscat (see ff 30-31); a translation of a written communication from the Imam of Muscat's Agent at Bombay, Agha Mahomed Shoostury (see ff 32-33).

In the second letter addressed directly to the Resident (no.1098, f 34), Willoughby includes a copy of a letter to Norris from Richard Clive, Acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Fort Saint George, in which it is requested that the Resident procure a variety of plants and seeds and send them to Tellicherry [Thalassery], Calicut [Kozhikode] or any other port on the coast, so that they can be taken to the Neilgherry Hills and cultivated in the gardens there.