- 2 - 164. In the civil development field work has restarted onthe Muscat - Sohar road which was suspended pending a reportfrom Mr. Griffith the engineering expert of the Middle EastDevelopment Division. In this period also a mobile crane forMuscat harbour was ordered from development funds. The needfor the crane is especially great in the current season ofswells and high seas. 165. Some years ago the Customs Department allowed aconsignment of bottles labelled "cyder" to be imported withoutthe very high duty on alcohol after being told that this was.the Japanese way of writing "soda". They have now levelledthe score at 1 - 1 by imposing the higher duty on a consignmentof "Arctic ale", which turns out to be ginger beer. 166. A consignment of air-conditioning and other electricalequipment from Bahrain also brought with it seven rats whoescaped when the crate was opened at the Consulate General.One went to ground in an old upholstered chair in the billiardroom; one was killed trying to take refuge in the "dishdasha"of a bearded and venerable office messenger; a third ran intoone of a consignment of cage rat-traps awaiting transport tothe Jebel Akhdar (where a plague of rats has caused dama ge to'fruit-trees) and was killed; while the remainder escaped into .the Consulate garden. HO 167. NAVAL AND MILITARY No Royal Navy ships called at Muscat during Decemberand there were no senior military visitors with the exceptionof Air Commodore Beresford who came on December 7 to inspectthe Sultan of Oman's Air Force. و 168 Routine patrolling by the army, the air force and thecoastal patrol boat continued without incident. 169. SHIPPING, EXCHANGE AND METEOROLOGICAL 17 ships called at the ports of Muscat and Matrahduring the period under review.100 MT Dollars = Rs. 3591 Gold Sovereign = Rs. 471 Indian Rupee = 40 baizas HUNN Maximum temperature 840 Maximum humidity 88%Minimum temperature 64° Minimum humidity 28% RainfallTotal for 1960 0.63"4.29"
