'File 60/20 I (C 93) Imperial Bank of Iran: Bahrain, etc' [‎48r] (97/409)

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Slilrai n«w«p«:'>«r ?, Oul letan 1 ' • Bo, 477 of the 25rd F®bry.l^9.
fl of* CO MC.■ ■ r 10MS.
"At the tlw* when the programme of the present Cabinet of
-ilcayat( 1 *0• '^a 11 'id 1 siili Khan Hlday&t)w^.s presented to the
prseent 1 la ,everyone-,who read .it,saw that the greatest
portion of the programme most reaemtled a recital, or lonp-
le^ing ^rtlele,recounting past r!«ec ?s J and mkk the onl4
statement prominent In the eyes of the reader was that there
woul<? be some revision of foreign conceptions granted In
former reigns.
^hls Important st «teTient was and is one of the chief desires
of Pera1 an liberals and progressivesj because,the day when £
these concessions were given to foreigners,the condition of
xerf? 1 a/t f^ae well-known in every sense, But today the awakened
and powerful world regarc's Persia with another eve. The world
of today recognizee the present -erela as an Independent,stm«
State,which cf».n protect Its Independence. For this reason it
must be aowltte4 that all treaties and concessions which It
makes to others must "be in accordance with the national
honour and the.present conditions of the country and nation.
It must he. said that the chief foreign concessions,the
revision of which are of the greatest Importance, are those of
the Anglo-Persian Oil Company,and of the Xr.pertal Bank*
In the past year we gave space to the purport of the
concessions to the Bank an^ the Oil Company,and laid them
before our readers; repetition appears superfluous
How that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry for
.ubllc 'orks are occupied in reconsidering the former
concessions,and in particular the concession for the Imperial
Bank has taken up the attention of the Minister of Finance,we
consider it obligatory on ourselves on our pa-t to write a
short art'cle and offer it to the people and Aut v ritiefl.
T f .-ou carefully «nd rightly consider the clauses of the
concession of the Imperial Bank,you will understand to what
extent the sovereign and go ve^nme t of that epoch,who gave the
concession,*ere ignora it of the course of economic and
political --e^irs of the world outside Ferslav because if they
had. been in possession of any solid or wide -mowledg® they
would not h?>ve agreed to such extensive powers being given to
a firm of merchants under the gui^e of a concession for
founding a hank#
Does the present tank, which is narked the Imperial "Baaic,
correspond more with a merchant company, or with a political
institution ? '"e shall not enter into the manner of its
transactions,and the conduct of the Bank as regards people who
are in need of tuylng and selling sterling and rupee"bills,
because if we wished to enter Into tMs,snd specify details,
we should have to felac ^en several sheets of paper. The evldenK
of its recent operations,speeches in the sittings of 2 months
ago by tnree or four deputies of the Majllg regarding the
operations of the Bank and its pressure on merchants ,and Its
refusal to Issue banknotes,and Its llrrltatlon of each banknote
to a certain town, are the Vest witnesses of our statements snd
proofs of the manner of its activities,and the best Incentive
for insisting on the revision of these concessions and,as a
result, the limitation of the operations of a mone changing
business,and cancellation of certain decisions of this
f nstit\at ion, such a shaking their banknotes payable everywhere
by removing the word"only (in 1 payable onlj at Shi ras, Isfahan,
• ehr»n, , /8zd,etc). Of course the Imperial Dovernment of today
in reviewing the< rights of V )holders of such concessions will
see that all concessions are in accordance with the present
prestige and conditions of the nation,and Empire of Persia,
and have cancelled everything seen by them contrary to the
honour and Inderendence of Persia...•Practically they must be
made to understand that Persia and the Persians of today are
different to the Persia and Persians of the late Shahs and th<
epoch of Kasr-ud-Din Shah. The Persian of today..Is not read;