IOR/L/PS/12/2988

Correspondence, minutes, and memoranda relating to the payment of subsidies to the Sultan of Muscat, in particular that of the Arms Traffic Subsidy. The principal correspondents are officials at the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Government of India (Foreign and Political Department), India Office, Foreign Office, and the Political Agency in Muscat. The papers deal with the question of the renewal of the Arms Traffic Subsidy at various times:

• In February 1932, when Said bin Taimur [Sa‘īd ibn Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd] succeeded his father as Sultan (this is also when the payment of the Zanzibar Subsidy was questioned)
• At the beginning 1935 when a three year extension was due to lapse
• At the end of 1935 when it was decided to discontinue the subsidy
• In November 1937 after the Sultan had requested the subsidy to be restored
• In 1939-45 when the payment of a War Subsidy was also considered.

Also contained within the file is correspondence discussing the right of the Sultan to import arms following the end of the Arms Traffic Subsidy and the question over the likelihood he might do so. Connected to this are communications from the Intelligence Bureau concerning suspicion over the activities of the Sultan's father in Japan (folios 128-30, 132-42).