‏"ملخص الأحداث والتدابير الرئيسية التي اتخذها سمو نائب الملك اللورد كرزون من كيدليستون، نائب الملك والحاكم العام للهند في إدارة الخارجية. ‏I‏. يناير ١٨٩٩-أبريل ١٩٠٤. ‏II‏. ديسمبر ١٩٠٤-نوفمبر ١٩٠٥. المجلد IV. بلاد فارس والخليج الفارسي." [ظ‎‎٣‎٤] (٣٨٦/٧٣)

65
Lord Carzon’s Government in 1900 along with the first, but its realisation was
delayed by the refusal of the Home Government to undertake a share in the
expenditure and by doubts of a technical nature as to the best means of carry,
ingit into effect; its object was the inclusion of the port of Bunder Abbas in
the circuit of the Persian Gulf cables. This it was originally proposed to
arrange by looping one of the existing cables between Jask and Busbire into
Bunder Abbas bay; but in 1902 a proposal by the Naval Commander*in-Chief,
that telegraphic communication should be extended to Bassidore, suggested the
alternative of landing a cable on Henjam, where a British telegraph station
had existed from 1868 to 1880, and of constructing a branch thence to Bunder
Abbas. This alternative project was finally accepted by His Majesty's Gov
ernment on the advice of Lord Curzon after he had personally visited* Hen jam
in 1903, and in April 1904 one of the Bushire cables was relanded on
the island and the telegraph station there reoccupied—witluout warning to
the Persian Government—in virtue of a former concession which had never
been revoked. Subsequently in May 1905 the permission of the Shah was
obtained by Sir A. Hardinge at Tehran for the construction of a line from
Henjam, partly aerial (across Kishm island) and partly submarine, to Bunder
Abbas, and it was completed before the close of the year ; this line was to be
worked by Persian operatives, and on repayment of the cost of construction
it was to become the property of the Persian Government.
During the period under consideration no important concessions were
Commercial concessions. obtained by British capitalists in the
Persian Gulf region with the exception
of a monopoly granted to a Mr. D’Arcy in 1901 for the working of oil fields
throughout the greater part of Persia, including Arahistan where operations
have since been commenced by a syndicate bearing his name. Care, however,
was taken to safeguard the interests of British enterprise wherever it appeared
that an opening might subsequently be found. In 1902 an undertaking was
obtained from the Sultan of Oman, under the orders of the Government of
India, that he would not grant a concession to any foreign Government or
Company for working the coal fields inland of Sur until an opportunity had
been given to the British Government of undertaking operations there in
conjunction with the Sultan himself. The irrigation of a part of the plains of
Arabistan from the Karun River having been proposed in 1903-04 by a Dutch
engineer who succeeded in interesting the Shah in his project, the Government
of India, in virtue of an agreement with the Persian Government, in 1905
deputed Major Morton, an officer of the Punjab Irrigation Department, to
study the conditions of the Ivarun tract ; the project of the Dutch engineer was
soon proved to be fantastic and Major Morton was ordered to prepare an alter
native scheme, hut it had not been completed at the time of Lord Curzon’s
departure from India. A guarantee that preference would be given to British
agency should it be decided to carry out irrigation works on the Karun was
sought from the Persian Government, hut it could not he obtained.
The foregoing paiagraphs do not exhaust the manifestations of activity
which resulted, during this strenuous period in the Persian Gulf, partly from
Land surveys and explorations. •^ or ^ Curzon’s direct instructions and
n , . , , , . . partly from his encouragement. The need
of a geographical and historical handbook of the Gulf for the use of political
officers havmg made itself felt, Mr. Lorimer of the Indian Civil Service was
m 1904 placed on special duty in the Foreign Office to compile a Gazetteer,
but the task proved to he one of considerable magnitude and has not yet been
completed In connection with the Gazetteer operations, detailed surveys of
various districts were made during the cold season of 1904-05 by a party of
Indian surveyors ; they resulted in the production of large scale maps of the
districts adjoining Maska and Matrah in Oman, of the Bahrein islands, of
he country about Koweit and between Koweit and the Turkish frontier, and of
the Bushire peninsula .Numerous journeys of exploration were made by local
Captain Cox, then Political Agent at Maskat, traversed the
/»nnci L tv ^ ^ r0m ^J ie sea ^o its head and returned to the
‘ , a . ci kema il in the following year the same officer performed a
remarkable journey across the whole breadth of Oman from Abu Dhabi to