IOR/F/4/2614/164850

The item consists of copies and extracts of correspondence, minutes and resolutions, cited in, or enclosed with, an extract of a Political Letter from the Government of Bombay to the East India Company Court of Directors, 9 June 1855. The enclosures are dated 15 February 1853-1 May 1855.

The item relates to reports of 'Banians' [also rendered in text as Banyans and Banneeans] and other people from ports on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, living in Zanzibar [also rendered in text as Zanzebar] and engaging in the 'slave trade' [trade in enslaved people] between the dominions of the Imaum [Imām] of Muscat and the Indian subcontinent. This is relayed to the Government of Bombay by Major Atkins Hamerton, HM Consul and Company Agent in the dominions of the Imaum, between 1853 and 1855. Hamerton's correspondence includes details of how the trade is conducted and his suggestions for suppressing it. Copies of his correspondence are forwarded to Captain Raikes, Assistant Political Agent at Kutch [Kachchh], and Lieutenant-Colonel William Lang, Political Agent in Katteewar [Kathiawar, also rendered in text as Kattywar], requesting them to report on whether subjects from those places are involved in the trade. Copies are also sent to British officials throughout India and the governments of India and Madras [Chennai, also referred to as Fort St George] for information.

The item also contains responses from Captain John Turnley Barr, Acting Political Agent at Katteewar, and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Willoughby Trevelyan, Acting Political Agent in Kutch. Trevelyan's letter includes copy of a translated letter from the Rao of Kutch.

The title page of the item contains the following references: 'Bombay Political Department', Draft Number '1199 [18]55', 'Collection No. 3', 'Vol: 2', and 'Examiner's Office'. Originally, the Collection number was given as '7 of No. 52 of 1855.' but this has been crossed out.