IOR/R/15/1/449

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.