Profits of Gun-running.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 July 1914, Page 8

Profits of Gun-running.

The very strong British expeditions which are periodically sent against the Arab gun-runners in the Persian Gulf can hardly be said to be nieeting with much success. The profits of gun-running are enormous, and wherever and whenever such profits are to be made, desperate men will be found willing to take the risks. The cargoes of rifles and ammunition are shipped in swift-sailing dhows from the free port of Muscat, to the cast coast of the Gulf, whence they are curried overland by camel caravan to the fierce desert tribes of the Central Asian plains and the warlike Pathans of the Hill Country. The, usual price for a modern rifle is its weight in gold coin placed in the opposite scale. Cartridges fetch from four to ten shillings apiece. Some idea can be gathered from these figures as to what are the profits of a successful deal. The duly of our cruisers is to try and capture Ihe dhows carrying the contraband, for once they land their cargoes pursuit is out of the question—at all events, for any considerable distance inland. The gun-run-ners travel through dosort regions by trails known only to themselves, and whore water is so scarce that no large armed force can possibly follow. Resides this, they have a nasty trick of poisoning the wells behind them when they have reason to believe that an enemy is in pursuit ; and they invariably fight to the death if they are by any chance overtaken and surrounded.