'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency for the Years 1911-1914' [‎73r] (150/488)

FOE, THE YEAR 1912.
7
on leave at the end of September a general state of chaos prevailed and
continued up to the end of the year.
Mr. Newman, Manager of the Imperial Bank, held charge of British
interests on Colonel Haig's departure pending the arrival of his successor, Captain
D. L. R. Lorimer, from Bahrain, at the beginning of the New Year.
The state of anarchy prevailing naturally had a most demoralising effect
on Kerman trade with the result that bankruptcy real and fraudulent was very
rife and some British traders were badly hit.
As in 1911, the peace of this district was little disturbed by the advent
Persian-Aiekran Coast. of .Afghans, and the grant to the principal
cmers or permits tor the purchase or rmes
on a restricted scale for their own use, served to minimise the resentment felt
by the chiefs of the district at the stringent measures taken in connection with
the Arms Traffic by His Majesty's Ships, who have been indebted to the Indo-
European Telegraph Department for a great deal of useful intelligence and
much painstaking work on shore, during the year.
There is some reason to hope that, with the closure of Maskat as an arms
entrepot, this district may before long revert to its normal condition of
cheerful and innocuous anarchy. The Persian Government having long ceased
to exercise any authority or take any interest in this region, it is the more a
matter for congratulation that our local representatives have contrived to
remain on friendly terms with most of the chiefs and keep the telegraph lino
open throughout the year, in spite of the difficulties and embarrassments caused
by the Arms Traffic.
A reconnaissance survey for the a Karachi Extension Project" towards
Bandar Abbas and Kerman was carried out in the spring under the orders of
Railway Surveys. ^ Gov e r T n ™ ent ^ ^r. A.
Johns, C.l.-b., assisted by Major L. P.
Hopkins, E. E., and other officers.
A careful survey was made of the alignment between Karachi and Grwadur*
and from the latter point—
{i) via Gaih, Bampur and Bam, or Sarbaz and Fahrah to Kerman ;
(ii) from Bampur to the iShelag River near Eobat.
It was estimated that the Gaih-Bampur-Bam route, which was recom
mended in preference to the others, would cost Rs. 1,43,000 a mile for the broad
and Rs. 1,13,000 for the metre guage.
The problems of Arabistan, both political and commercial, have continued
Arab is tan. demand their full share of attention
from higher authority. The protocol of
1911 between Turkey and Persia providing for the formation at Constantinople
of a Commission to delimit the Turko-Persian frontier, and for a reference
Turko-Persian Frontier. to Hague Tribunal in case of failure
to reach an agreement, revived this vexed
question as a definite and urgent issue early in the year ; and in view of the
possibility of a reference to the Hague it was considered necessary to re-examine
the whole Arabistan frontier from the Dawairij to the mouth of the Shatt-el-
Arab both on the spot, and in the light of the archives of His Majesty's
Government with a view to defining the present status quo and ascertaining
how far it was based on ancient custom or could be justified on historical
grounds.
In response to an urgent enquiry from His Majesty's Foreign Office as to
the precise distance of the locally recognised frontier west of Hawizeh, the
Resident proceeded there via Ahwaz accompanied by a native surveyor kindly
lent by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, visiting Shuaib on the Karkhah, the
westernmost point of the Turko-Persian frontier as locally observed, and
returning to Mohammerah via Kishk-i-Hawizeh, Kishk-i-Basri and Diaiji,
where the frontier approached the Shatt-el-Arab ; the frontier from Hawizeh to
the Shatt-el-Arab was carefully examined and a map prepared showing the
precise location of the locally observed boundary.