'File 60/20 I (C 93) Imperial Bank of Iran: Bahrain, etc' [‎65r] (131/409)

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THIS D OCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT.
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PERSIA. ^ April 22, 1930.
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 2.
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[E 2051/697/34] No. 1. 1^/^ V
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Sir R. Clive to Mr. A. Henderson.— {Received April 22.) : ; : ^
/No 144. Confidential.) A . 7 ^
^ r 0, ^ [a* h' Tehran, April 4, 1930.
ir ' IN your telegram No. 58 of the 25th March you were good enough to inform me
that the board of the Imperial Bank of Persia agreed to a suggestion I had made
that at the interview which had been arranged with the Minister ot Court for the
31st March, Mr. Rogers should go unaccompanied by Mr. Wilkinson, the chiet
manager of the bank. . • -i i\/r- • 4.
2. My reason for making this suggestion was that, m my opinion the Minister
of Court would be more impressed if, in the first instance, he received Mr. Rogers
alone as a member and special representative of the board of the bank, than it he
was accompanied by the chief manager. Mr. Rogers was, as a matter of tact,
accompanied by Mr. Lingeman, the acting commercial secretary, as interpreter, as
he does not himself speak French. . n ^ T . j
3. Having discussed the whole position fully with Mr. Rogers, I suggested
that he should take with him a memorandum couched in conciliatory terms. As
the bank were not prepared to go to arbitration on the P omt c f 0 f'
cessionary rights had been infringed by the new law, I advised Mr. Rogers not to
lay too much stress on the past, but to concentrate on the future. Appeals to
sentiment and to the past services of the bank would carry little weight w ith the
Minister of Court, who was essentially a realist. _ , ^
4 On the one hand, his Highness was determined to weaken the position ot
the Imperial Bank of Persia if the latter were not prepared to discuss a revision
of their concession. This was not so much because he had any very defimte grievance
against the bank as that the privileges enjoyed by the bank ■ t ° h ^ e
sistent with Persian sovereign rights. I need only mention the sole right ot no
issue, and exemption from all taxation until the end of the concessionary period in
1949 5 On the other hand, as everything has its price, there must presumably be a
price at which it would be worth the bank's while to renounce this exclusive right of
nntp issue m favour of the Persian Goveinment. ^ _ i . _ . ,
6 Moreover, the ordinary facilities which the bank had hitherto enjoved were
most injuriously affected by the recent law, and it was essential shou,d
enabled to do business on at least an equal footing with t heNatmnalBank.
7 I warned Mr. Rogers that even if the Minister of Court could substantiate
no actual complaint against the Imperial Bank, yet I knew ^t he thought they ^
reactionary and unhelpful. Although he had assured me that the recent law com
trolling foreign exchange was not directed against the Impena. Ba ,
merely a phasS in the economic policy of the Persian Government, p!,^^ Qii
thing quite different to Mr. Jacks, the resident dy rec or 0 . , , ,1 [
Company. He had, in fact, told Mr. Jacks that the law was ^f ^^he Imperial
Bank, in order to break their monopoly of exchange and to force them to come to
terms with the National Bank. While praising t e I }S. 0 JtH / j with that of
for their liberal and helpful policy, he had contrasted their attitude with that ot
the ^mperial Bank of Persia of ^ to me to bave a^rtain
amount of right on his side. The Imperial Bank had been very short-sighted m
their attitude towards the National Bank. They began b y th ' s ne ^ b X
with undisguised contempt, and then, six months later, th f^ r ^
Foreign Office officially to support their Potest against an in
concession. Up to the last moment they had flatly declined to fix the exchang
agreement with the National Bank. , . . tn makp
9. In speaking thus frankly to Mr. Rogers, my object ^to endeavour to make
him understand the point of view of the Minister of Court before he met him.
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