'Administration Reports 1925-1930' [‎140r] (284/418)

more peacef ul. The Army has been disarming the Tangistanis and Dashtistanis
in the opening months of 1930.
16. Naturally, with political conditions so disturbed, security was conspi
cuous by its, absence on most of the roads in Fars. Car and caravan robberies-were
far too numerous to recount in detail here ; but the attack on a car carrying
members of the Church Missionary Society on the Bushire road in April deserves
special mention : Mr. Proctor, driver of the car, and Miss Henriques, a lady
doctor, were wounded by the brigands. The Bushire road was very unsafe in
April and May, closed completely for June and most of July, opened inter
mittently in August, September and October on payment of rahdari, and often
closed from November to March by rain, snow, or floods, the winter being a
particularly cold and wet one for Fars,. The road to Isfahan was kept open
better after the troubles, but was closed to car traffic in January and February
through severe weather. The road via Niriz to Kerman and Bandar Abbas was
seldom open at all owing to robberies. The trade of Shiraz suffered very
seriously from these adverse conditions.
17. The Indo-European Telegraph Department also had a difficult year. On
May 13th one wire was interrupted 22 miles west of Shiraz by Darashuri tribes
men, and many insulators were broken. On May 20th one line was interrupted
10 miles west of Shiraz. On the 24th a second line was interrupted. On June
4th the Qashqais cut all lines near Dasht-i-Arzan and refused to allow them to
be repaired* All lines to Isfahan were cut early in the morning of June 6th ; one
was restored on June 8th, the other two later. Between Dasht-i-Arazan and
Kazerun, wilful damage occurred on a large scale ; many miles of wire were
removed wholesale, poles uprooted, insulators broken, stalks removed, etc.
Ghulams out on duty were repeatedly robbed, but bravely went out time after
time to repair the lines while the authorities refused to give them an escort of
military or road-guards. On June 25th all line were interrupted south of
Konnar Takhteh, and on the 26th again cut north of Konar Takhteh. One line
was reconstructed from Shiraz to Kazerun in the middle of July, but was again
wrecked ten miles out of Shiraz on July 23rd, six spans of wire being cut out.
Permanent repairs on the section Shiraz-Kazerun could not be effected by the
Assistant Superintendent until October, when an escort was at last provided
by the military authorities. The Ghulams who were robbed while on duty
received no compensation from the Persian Government, nor did the Department
recover the value of Government property stolen from its rest-houses and its
servants.
18. As regards local administration, no great changes took place., The
Opium Monopolv Administration ceased to be an independent concern, being
placed under the Finance Department in April 1929. The Director of Finance,
Mirza Humavun Khan Sayyah, found its accounts, in hopeless confusion on taking
over. He himself was recalled to Tehran at the end of July, having refused to
tolerate the interference of the Amir Lashkar Shaibani in financial affairs.
Mirza Ghulam Ali Khan Arbabi, Director of Posts and Telegraphs and for a time
Acting Governor-General was also recalled to Tehran in July for similar reasons
He was replaced by Mirza Haider Khan Taraz, the Chief of Posts. Kazim
Khan Mudabbir. a former Assistant Governor-General was, made Chief of the
Census Department, and the whole of South Persia was placed under his control.
Sarhang Humavun Khan Shahrdar, the Chief of Police, was transferred to
Isfahan in August and replaced by Sarhang Fazlullah Khan Agakham, formerly
Chief of Police in Isfahan. The Director of Education, Abul Qasim Khan
Fiyuzat, remained at his post during the whole year, and his sphere was extend
ed to cover the Gulf Ports and Lar. He showed considerable activity, travelling
himself to Bushire, Bandar Abbas, Lar, Istahbanat, etc., for the inspection of
existing Schools and the foundation ot new ones.
19. In the autumn of 1929 the Municipality of Shiraz was placed under the
control of a military officer, who signalised the change by inaugurating street
improvements on a grand scale. The avenue in front of the Consulate was
widened to 54 metres, all protruding buildings being knocked down with the
significant exception of the Government barracks,, and the road was metalled with
loose earth which made it absolutely impassable all the winter. In the spring
similar avenues were planned in other parts oi the town and the woik oi destruc
tion commenced in twenty places at once, to the great impediment of traffic.
While these changes may eventually improve the town, a vast number of pro
perty owners, many of them quite poor, are hard hit by the destruction , and
this, added to the distress following a civil disturbances and bad trade, has left
the town as a whole much impoverished and by no means well disposed towards
the Pahlavi regime.