'P. 1. 2410/1903. Persia:- Financial Situation. Loans.' [‎452r] (908/1056)

This Document is the
4’
Ttannic M ajesty's Government]
PERSIA AND ARABIA.
L-)l JUL Ivw'J ;•
[June 15.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 3.
No. 1.
Sir A. Hardinge to the Marquess of Lansdowne.—
{Received June 15.)
(No. 80.)
My Lord ^ Gutahek, May 26, 1903. C
1 HAV lji tiie lionour to transmit herewith, with reference to my telegram No. 'S'S
of the 24th instant, a copy of the note which I am sending to the Mushir-ed-Dowleh
respecting the separation of the customs of Arahistan from those of Pars and of the
rest of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
M. Naus informs me that the “ Element Douanier ” now in course of neo*otia-
tmn with the Eussian Legation will probably not be concluded for some months.
The draft which he submitted immediately after the ratification of the Eusso-Persian
Commercial Declaration has come hack from St. Petersburg!! with a number of amend
ments, which M. Vlassoff declines to discuss, and expects him to accept without
question. This he refuses to do, and he is now drawing up fresh counter-proposals
which will have to be again submitted to the Eussian Government, as the Eussian
Minister insists on referring every point in them home. As an instance of this, he
told me that an article in which he had provided on the subject of fines, that'the
Central Customs Authority might modify them on appeal from the local authorities,
had been altered under a misapprehension at St. Petersburgh. He had written
1 A-Utonte Centiale aura le droit de lever ou d abaisser les amendes. 55 The Eussian
Poreign Office mistaking the meaning of “lever,” and supposing it to signify
“ clever,” had struck out this word, and though he had explained to M. Vlassoff that
its real meaning was to “remit,” and not to “raise,” the latter would not agree to
its insertion, in this sense and with this explanation, without a further reference to
St. Petersburgh.
He has promised, however, to let me have the papers on the subject as soon
as his reply to the Eussian proposals is ready, which it will be in about ten davs’
time.
I have, &c.
(Signed) AETHUE H. HAEDINGE.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Sir A. Hardinge to Mushir-ed-Dowleh.
Your Excellency, May 24, 1903.
HIS Majesty’s Eesident at Eushire reported early this year to the Government
of India and to His Majesty’s Legation at Tehran that the Customs Administration of
Arabistan had been separated from that of the remaining ports of Southern Persia
which are under the “ Direction Generale ” of Eushire, and had been constituted into
a separate division with a Director-General of its own at Mohammerah.
The Government of India has called the attention of His Majesty’s Government
to this new arrangement, and I am now instructed by the Marquess of Lansdowne to
address your Excellency respecting it.
His Lordship anticipates that the separation of Mohammerah for customs purposes
from the other ports of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. might, in the absence of a clear declaration
to the contrary, give rise to an impression that the customs revenues of Arabistan were
excluded from the term “ Customs of Ears and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,” used in the Eussian
Loan contracts of 1900 and 1902, and were therefore pledged to the service of the
loans created by those two agreements.
It will he within your Excellency’s recollection that in March 1900, just after the
conclusion of the first Eussian Loan, Mr. Spring Eice was instructed by Lord Salisbury
to point out to you, in connection with customs changes at Mohammerah, that the
customs of that port could not, in view of the engagement given us by the Persian
Government in 1897, be included in the guarantee for the Eussian Loan. In May
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