'Administration Reports 1925-1930' [‎19r] (42/418)

Times were in Fars for the purpose of investigating a suspected 'fault'm the
hills of the Bawanat district, apparently of some importance. They lost two
motor cars out of ten over precipices on the Bnshire-Srnraz load.
(c) On February 13th 1926 the caravan accompanying a party of oil-geolo-
siists was attacked by armed men and looted near Warawi m the innterlanc 01
the Shibkuh ports.
id) At the end «if July Sir Hormusjee Gowasjee Diiishaw (of Aden and
Bombav) accompanied by other members of the Pardee community of Bombay
interested in the repatriation of Parsees to Persia, visited Shiraz on their wav
to Tehran By orders of the Persian Government they were paid exceptional
•consideration by the provincial authorities. There has been a movement m the
Press of Shiraz for the enlistment of Parsee capital for the dev elopment 01
Persia, and apparently the Persian Government hoped to lufluence Sir Horw^ec
in this direction; but, apart from the stressing of sentimental ties of a common
-origin, xw definite result has been noted. Indeed the small and poor Zoroastnai
colonv at .Shiraz professes to be disgusted with their rich correligiomsts trora
India, who expect hospitality on their sight-seeing journeys and make no dona-
tions to local funds.
U) After a period of restraint in their attitude towards Great Britain the
Press of Shiraz and the demagogue orators were let loose by the Persian 1 rime
Minister proclaiming September 5th 1925 as a national day oi mourning ror
the events at Medina and the alleged destruction of the tomb of the Piophet
:(without apparently waiting for the exact facts to be ascertained) : all papery
wrote in a strong anti-British strain of the enemy of Islam, and accused Gieat
Britain of having egged on the Wahabi Amir in order to humiliate Islam.
(f) 'The elections to the Constituent Assembly in November, which followed
so rapidly on the first open announcement of the nationalist committees m lai>
riz and other places for deposition of tlie Qajar dynasty, were control e b> ie
Militarv Command ; but, handled by Mirza Ibrahim Khan Qawam, resu tec 11
representative and on the whole conservative deputies being sent to lehran
on the 29th November. The celebrations on the 15th to 18th December, winch
were called forth by the conferring of the sovereignty on Riza Khan ^hiav.i
by the Constituent Assembly, were on a scale inipreeedented m bhiraz. l ie
Persian officials at these ceremonies seemed to make a point of expressmg t.ic
friendliness of the new regime towards Great Britain and the British residents
in Persia.
Economic Situation.
This is not the place for details as to the state of trade. It will suffice to
say that the scarcity of money has month by month become more and more
marked during the past year, and has contributed to reduce the formerly brisk
bazaar of Shiraz to a lifeless shell, in which those tied to trade attempt to keep
their heads above water by buying each other's bills. Landowners the so-
called notables—are equally hard pressed, living beyond their incomes and un
able to lay their hands on ready money even to pay small debts: tins is true
of men elected to represent the province in the national assemblies.
Sixty to seventy per cent, of the ' money ' circulating m the form of paper at
3 or 4 months' date is said to have no cash behind it.
In May 1925 the United States Financial Advisers introduced a government
monopoly tax on the import of all sugar and tea, winch, added to the already
high duty and surtax, had for one result that a bag- of loaf-sugar arriving Bus in e
roadstead at a cost of Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. 14, or say Krans 42, had to pay Krans 68 m customs
dutv, surtax and monopoly tax. It is doubtless true that several million tuma s
are accruing annually from customs posts m Persia to the^ Go\ ernment foi
laudable object of providing a Railway Fund; but on the f
Persian coast inside the Gulf the natural result ot such a fantastic late ot ta
lion as 150 to 170 per cent, ad valorem (is there any country m the world whei.
the sugar and tea of the people is taxed higher?) has been an enormous ex^
sion of the already too prevalent smuggling. ^ hen the Arab coast poits c < - ■
only a 5 per cent, duty it clearly pays handsomely to take sugar and te* acioss
by native sailing craft to the Persian shore. Sugar was previous .y in a
a cash commodity, and a staple of trade for every merchant, big oi sma .
heavy duties now payable are driving nearly all the small men ou o^ le .a .
while the more substantial merchants have constantly been oblighec o se a
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