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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TPERFIC.O. 882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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however, were quickly closed owing to the force of the wind; although the weather had abated the water between the shore and the ship was far from smooth, and I understand that the Sultan succumbed to sea sickness.

7. His Highness was received on the quarter deck by the Naval Commander-in- Chief who presented to him Captain Macnamara and the principal officers of the ship. A guard of honour of Royal Marines under the command of Major T. L. Hunton, M.V.O., O.B.E., was mounted on the quarter-deck. The Sultan was conducted to the Admiral's cabin where I received him; I wore the blue Governor's uniform. The conversation was of a formal and complimentary nature; His Highness welcomed me to his domains and asked me to convey his dutiful sentiments to His Majesty the King; 1, for my part, expressed my pleasure at having found it possible to visit him. I enquired after his health and added a pointed expression of my hope that he had not been delayed on shore by indisposition. He thereupon apologised very courteously for being late, and said that he had not been very well. I then enquired as to the health of his only son, Prince Hasan Izzuddin; this young man of twenty-six was educated in Colombo, but owing to the unfortunate manner of his life since his return to Malé, he appears to be in a very precarious state of health; he is said to be a moral and physical wreck, and he was unable to appear during my visit. The Sultan is of medium height and clean shaven except for a moustache; he looks kindhearted, but weak in character, devoid of physical energy and of low vitality. His nervous system appeared to be enfeebled; his demeanour was shy and deferential; throughout the conversation he spoke in what was practically a whisper. Abdul Hamid Didi inter- preted. After taking leave of me His Highness paid a formal visit to the Naval Commander-in-Chief and returned to the shore. A salute of seventeen guns was fired as he left the ship.

8. As soon as His Highness' barge had reached the shore the Naval Commander- in-Chief, accompanied by his Flag Lieutenant, The Honourable N. A. J. W. E. Napier, Paymaster-Lieutenant C. S. Bishop, and Abdul Hamid Didi, went ashore in his own barge; he was received at the jetty by the Sultan, a salute of seventeen guns being fired by the shore battery as he landed; after inspecting the Guard of Honour he was conducted to the Sultan's Palace.

9. The Sultan's barge was sent back to H.M.S. Effingham to bring me and my staff ashore; a heavy rain storm came on as I was being rowed in, but this fortunately turned to a light drizzle when I reached the inner harbour. The jetty and surround- ings were elaborately decorated and crowded with spectators, all of whom, as was to be expected in a Muslim country, were men or boys. I was greeted by His Highness the Sultan, and a salute of seventeen guns was fired as I landed. A Guard of Honour of " Volunteers," which I inspected, was mounted on the approach to the jetty; the men were dressed in good khaki drill and armed with very antiquated-looking muskets and bayonets. I then walked to the Palace, a distance of about three hundred yards, accompanied by the Sultan; the white State umbrellas were twirled above our heads; we were preceded by the Sultan's band, which produced the usual oriental music, and followed by the Ministers and other officials. The route was gaily decorated with pandals and innumerable red and white posts with red flags; it was lined with Regulars armed with lances, behind whom stood a large respectful crowd of interested but quite silent men and boys.

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10. We passed through various gateways and courtyards of the Palace and finally ascended a narrow wooden stair-case and entered through a lobby the Audience Chamber, where we found the Naval Commander-in-Chief and his staff awaiting us. This room was about 40 feet by 20 feet, and 12 or 15 feet high; the walls and ceiling were panelled in some dark wood; two walls opened into a verandah through doors adorned with white lace curtains; in the third wall was the door by which we had entered and in the fourth a door which presumably led to the Sultan's private apart- ments; the room was furnished with two or three rather ugly cupboards, two grand- father clocks, a few chairs, and a sofa.

11. The Sultan invited me to sit on the sofa with him and a chair was placed beside us for Vice-Admiral Thesiger. Our staffs and the Maldivian Ministers stood beside us.

I enclose a note of what was said. It was not taken down in shorthand, but it reproduces the gist of the conversation with sufficient accuracy. The conversation was carried on, with the help of Abdul Hamid Didi, in English and Maldivian, without That more dilatory the usual ceremonial interposition of Tamil and Hindustani. process of interpretation appears to have been used on previous occasions when missions have been sent from Ceylon to the Maldives, and it is always observed when the annual Maldivian tribute is presented to the Governor in Colombo. The impression

*Printed as Annexure, page 6.

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which I formed was that, although the Sultan was of an amiable and kindly disposition, He has never he knew very little indeed about his subjects and their government.

He appeared to left the islands and only goes outside his palace on rare occasions. be completely in the hands of the Didi family and in particular of E. Alimmad Didi. his Private Secretary. As I was speaking to him, it was clear that he relied on them, and that he really did not know the answers to my questions. I cannot, of course, be certain that the interpretation was adequate it manifestly was far from literal. His Highness took my homily in excellent part and thanked me for my advice.

12. E. Abdul Majid Didi, E. Ahmad Didi, and E. Abdul Hamid Didi are brothers, sons of Ibrahim Didi, Bodu Dorimena Kilegefanu, the “Grand Old Man of the Maldives, who was Prime Minister except for short intervals from 1883 until his death at the age of 80 in 1925. So far as I can judge, this family is in complete control of the government of the islands, and I gather that, in the light of Oriental standards at any rate, this control is exercised with reasonably satisfactory efficiency and pro- priety; the Didis evidently have considerable respect for the Sultan as the Head of the State, but the whole machinery of administration is hampered by his unwillingness, which in recent years has probably become his incapacity, to give any attention to public affairs.

13. At the end of the interview, which lasted about three-quarters of an hour, I presented the Sultan with a graniophone; he is, I understand, very fond of musie and had expressed a desire for a gramophone of the latest pattern. I am told that he is already in possession of several less modern instruments and also of a powerful wireless receiving set. He appeared to be pleased with the present. I then took my leave of His Highness.

14. On leaving the Palace, the Naval Commander-in-Chief and I were cun- ducted to a motor-car which had been specially imported for the occasion from Colombo by the Maldivian Government. I regret to say that it was of United States manufacture. In this car we were taken for a short drive through the streets of Malé before returning to H.M.S. Effingham. The streets were tastefully decorated, the road-way had been strewn with white sand, and within my range of vision the town presented a clean and neat appearance. The better-class houses are solidly built of white coral stone. The number of burial grounds is remarkable. The people looked orderly and well-nourished. They obviously are prolific. Multitudes of children were to be seen everywhere. The people are said to be racially akin to the Sinhalese, but in outward appearance they seemed to me to bear greater resemblance to the Ceylon Moors. The streets were full of men and boys. The women and girls for the most part peeped at us from over the high cadjan fences which surround their houses similarly as in the Jaffna Peninsula and other portions of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Ceylon. The women wear circular embroidered hands of gold and silver thread affixed to their dresses below their necks. This embroidery is transferred from dress to dress, but it is relatively costly in the first instance, and the expense of it is said to act as an effective check upon any general indulgence in polygamy. On their of some dark material which at a distance heads the women wear a small "bun looks like cotton cloth. This head-gear was formerly worn on the crown of the head. The modern, apparently universal, fashion is to wear it at a rakish angle above the ear. Yashmaks or veils do not seem to be worn. The mosques and shrines, of which there are many, are small unimposing structures without cupolas or minarets.

15. There was a very heavy rain storm during the night but the following morning was fine. The Naval Commander-in-Chief and I, with our respective staffs, went ashore in plain clothes at 10.0 a.m. and were met by the Acting Prime Minister and other Ministers. I was then conducted to a suitably equipped and decorated guard- room in one of the outer court-yards of the Palace. There I met the Indian" Borah

These merchants, who are British subjects, merchants, some twenty in number. appear to have obtained too much influence and power in the islands; they own all the buggalows (the local term for dhows) trading between Ceylon and Malé, and they have acquired a monopoly of the rice trade; I was informed that, as a result of their influence upon certain Ministers, the Maldivian Government would not permit Mal- divians to own buggalows or to open shops in the principal business quarter of Malé. It will be observed that I touched upon this matter in my conversation with the Sultan. With his full concurrence I took the opportunity of my meeting with the merchants to warn them that they must not interfere in the political affairs of the islands or attempt to impede their economic development, and I suggested to them that they would gain rather than lose by any considerable increase in the produce and trade of the islands, though the percentage rate of profit would probably not be so high on the larger turnover as it was on the present relatively small volume of business.