IOR/V/23/50, No 229

Administration Report on the Persian Gulf Residency and Muscat Political Agency for the year 1886-87, published by Authority and printed by the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta [Kolkata]. A copy of a letter from Colonel Edward Charles Ross, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General for Fars, to Henry Mortimer Durand, Secretary to the Government of India (Foreign Department), dated 2 June 1887, is included in the report (folio 336), the original of which submitted the report to Government, under the following headings:

Part 1 (General Summary, folios 337-43) containing numbered summaries of local political affairs, and incidents or events of particular note for: 1) Muscat state; 2) the pirate coast of Oman; 3) Bahrain; 4) Nejd, El-Hasa [Al-Hasa] and El-Katr [Qatar]; 5) Fars, including Shiraz, Bushire and its districts, Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh] and Bunder Abbass [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]; 6) Arabistan; and 7) Persian Baluchistan. The report also includes summaries for: 8) British actions against the slave trade; 9) Official appointments of British personnel and naval movements; 10) climatic observations, recorded by the observatory at Bushire; and a short note on the celebration of Queen Victoria’s jubilee in the region. Appendix A contains tabulated and graphical meteorological data for the year, supplied by the Bushire observatory.

Part 2 (Administration Report of the Muscat Political Agency for the year 1886-87), submitted by Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Mockler, Her Britannic Majesty’s Political Agent and Consul at Muscat, dated 21 May 1887 (folios 344-45), containing a summary of affairs at Muscat.

Part 3 (Report on the trade of South Persia for the year 1886, folios 345-55), comprising a short summary of the year’s trade, with notes on: exports (cereals, tobacco); imports (Manchester [cotton] goods, metals and sugar); and shipping, including notes of freight, exchange and customs. Appendix A comprises tabulated data on import, exports and revenue, in the Gulf ports of Bushire, Bandar-e Lengeh, Bandar-e ʻAbbās, Bahrain and the Arab (Oman) coast. An index to the trade tables can be found at folio 346v.

Part 4 (Muscat trade report for the year 1886-87), submitted by Mockler, dated 21 May 1887 (folios 356-62), comprising a brief summary of the year’s trade at Muscat, and also containing tabulated data on imports and exports at Muscat (listed by commodity), and the nationality and average tonnage of vessels visiting Muscat.