IOR/R/15/6/281

This file relates to British policy regarding economic, agricultural and industrial development in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman. It begins with proposals from the Political Agent and Consul at Muscat for investigations into the possibilities of industrial development in three key areas: fisheries, cotton production, and cement production. The correspondence goes on to discuss the possibilities of development in these and other areas.

Related matters covered in the correspondence include the following: the conclusion of a consulting engineer that the conditions for the establishment of a cement industry in Muscat are not favourable; the visit to the Sultanate of former Chief Fishery Adviser in Palestine, Dr George Colin Lawder Bertram, in January 1948, for the purpose of producing an investigative report on its fisheries and their possible development; a similar visit by Brian Joseph Hartley, Director of Agriculture, Aden, to report and advise on the possibilities of sugar cane development in the Sultanate; the question of expenses for Bertram's trip.

The principal correspondents are the following: the Political Agent and Consul, Muscat; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Secretary to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Governor of Aden; the Sultan of Muscat and Oman [Sa‘īd bin Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; Dr Bertram; officials of the British Government of India's External Affairs Department, the India Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office, the Colonial Office, and the Foreign Office.