IOR/R/15/6/283

This file relates to agricultural and industrial development in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman. The bulk of the file consists of a copy of a report produced by Brian Joseph Hartley, Director of Agriculture, Aden, which is entitled 'A Preliminary Report on the Agricultural Resources of the Batinah Coast – Sultanate of Muscat and Oman' (ff 27-67). A similar report relating to the province of Dhofar was produced by Hartley two years previously (see IOR/R/15/6/282).

Two letters exchanged between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the Foreign Office discuss the steps that the Sultan of Muscat and Oman [Sa‘īd bin Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd] intends to take to implement the recommendations made by Hartley in his report. It is noted that the recruitment of an agricultural officer and a fisheries officer from India or Pakistan is being considered, with the Foreign Office suggesting that the Sultan should consider recruiting Palestinians for these posts, with a view to later allowing Palestinian refugees to settle as cultivators in Muscat.

Also covered very briefly in the file is the recent visit of consulting geologist Sir Cyril Sankey Fox to Dhofar to examine lead ore deposits, and Fox's wish to carry out similar prospecting in Oman.