GUN-RUNNING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 743, 16 February 1910, Page 7

GUN-RUNNING.

■ EXTRA WARSHIPS IN PEESIAN: •■ By Telegraph—PreßS AESooiatioa-Copyrißht. v" .:?;;•'. ?'■ Calcutta; February; 14/:: ■An : energetic .campaign is.:iri : progress against gun : runhing to India;.--.' .';■'■-.: Ten "extra;vessels .are .employed, on ,the. llekran coast'and in the Persian'.Gulf. RECENT'CONFERENCE, ■•; - The International Conference which has ibeen sitting in Brussels in the .'hope .of.framing new regulations for the traffic in arms-has separated without coming to any decision, ; says - fche "Daily Mail" of. January' i., •.,-„-". ; 'v, .•,.'■.;., '~.-■; Proposals , were .-made .'-extending . .the: -prohibited zone' and '■ regulating:;the ! sale and transport. of. arms.'-, It was. soon-ap-parent, however, that one or' two .of the fourteen States represented, at;'the".'conference,.'were: :opposed,to;any, extension of. the Brussels Convention ■;With .regard ■to traffic in.' : arms; '■: The, conference, -see-, ihg, no'.'. hopo of ; , agreement,' accordingly 'decided to dissolve;/., ■;!■•:■ , : y< ..:'.Sj< : ■•.,; ■ The 'need 'fbr,-hew*isgulations is -mani.fest from. the' report' 'that : H.M.S: Perseus has landed, a force -in r Baluchistan and ' destroyed 800 rifles and .100,000 rotinds.of ammunition'; that had been secretly .carried, into the country. For many years the Persian Gulf has been! the- active centre of'this .traffio.in gun-running.- Muscat, which- under treaty rights has 'theprivilege of;free.imports, and,exports, 1 has become, a sort/of emporium for the supply of- arms' to Afghanistan, -India, and .-Persia. -,-■.'■',;;. ■':..'./■.•>■/.• ; :■*-:.■..;_..'■. ■;..-■_'-•;■ .-.'■; .' -'.Thb; utmost ..vigilance, on 'the ;part. ofthe- British'-'Resident I 'at. ; Bushire, '.who has . control -over the- Gulf-and ;.of.'what ■was formerly.;known;as the Pirate Coast, has failed to'stamp rout this .mischievous trade. .-Merchants' find 'in it-great gain and , comparatively , little' risk, -. and, put pressure, oh; tlieir .' Governments to pre- : vent'any restrictions at: Muscat and other ' well-known depots;; ■■'. The. danger - of; afm'ing the:'tribesmen. of : savage•and::partly •civilised countries is not 'allowed to'.weigh .against the profit derived from the traffic;