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File 1912/897 Pt 2 ‘Persian Gulf:- British post offices’ [‎135r] (274/456)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (222 folios). It was created in 1914-1919. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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India. F he on Secretary’s
CONFIDENTIAL.
No dated
9 JUL 1914
No. 1701, dated Bushire, the 6th (received 15th) June 1914.
From—M ajor S. G. Knox, C.I.E., Officiating Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian
Gulf,
j 0 jhe Foreign Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign and
Political Department, Simla.
I have the honour to forward, for the information of the Government of
No. io, dated iath May 1914. to His Majesty's India a copy of the letter nnargmally
Minister, Tehran. noted, which I have received from His
Majesty’s Consul, Kerman, on the subject of the Persian Postal service in
Kerman.
Enclosure.
No. 10, dated Kerman, the I2th May 1914.
F rom —His Britannic Majesty’s Consul,
j 0 —.His Britannic Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'.
etc., etc., Tehran.
1 have the honour to submit for your consideration some remarks on the
unsatisfactoriness of the Persian Postal service in Kerman, in the hope that it
may be found possible to induce the Post Master General to give his attention to
the subject of introducing certain improvements and reforms. The task of effect
ing substantial improvment should not, 1 think, lie outside the competence even
of a Persian Government Departm nt, and the present time, when there is ground
for hoping that the Gendarmerie will within a calculable period render the post
secure from external forces, appears a suitable one for calling for an overhauling of
the resources and practice of the Kerman postal service.
2. 1 shall proceed here to indicate where the principal defects of the present
service lie.
There are two main postal routes connecting Kerman with Europe and with
other parts of Persia :—
1. That via Bandar Abbas.
2. That via Yezd and Tehran.
The Bandar Abbas Route.
This is the more important route as it alone provides connection with India
with which there is a considerable commercial correspondence, including tha
Th important Hindu community in Kerman. By far ^ greater bulk of imported
goods come from, or rid India by way of Bandar Abbas. Ihe Hmdus and the
Carpet Firms have also agents at Bandar Abbas and H>s Bn tanmc Majesty
Consul’s official correspondence with Bushire and India follows this t .
The chief subject of complaint in regard to the service by this route is its
slowness and uncertainty.
n Incoming Bandar Abbas Mail. The recognised minimurn time taken by
the nost in com'me from Bandar Abbas to Kerman is 16 days. The length of
the sCestrouteVd Baft and liable to be difficult in wmter).se 7 o miles. Alter-
native routes run up to 340 miles in length, but 1 y
distance is very bad going for a post.
It should certainly be done in not more than 10 days, and a week shou
not be at all impossible.
The slowness complained of is due
1 . to want of organisation, and to insufficient staff, and re ays o men an
2. to the"route followed via, Bandar Abbas, Daulatabad, Sirjan (Saidabad)
Rafsinjan (Bahramabad), Kerman.
C55FD
mi
191
il
n

About this item

Content

The volume comprises copies of printed correspondence, handwritten correspondence, notes and other papers. This relates to the operation of British Indian post offices in Persia, and in particular in the region known as Arabistan [Ahvāz] by British officials. The file is a direct chronological continuation of File 1912/897 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf. British post offices [also in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. ]’ (IOR/L/PS/10/242). Principal correspondents in the volume include: HM Minister in Tehran (Sir Charles Murray Marling); India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. staff (John Evelyn Shuckburgh; Arthur Hirtzel); the Deputy Chief Political Officer at Basra (Captain Arnold Talbot Wilson); the Chief Political Officer at Basra (Sir Percy Zachariah Cox); and the Officiating Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Major Stuart George Knox).

Subjects covered in the volume include:

  • a printed copy of the Convention of Rome (dated 26 May 1906), created by the Universal Postal Union, incorporating detailed regulations for its execution, in French and English, printed in 1907 by HM Stationery Office (ff 160-224);
  • office notes relating to protests from the Persian Government at the opening of Government of India post offices at Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām] and Charbar [Chābahār], and the anticipated post office at Ahwaz [Ahvāz] (ff 153-159);
  • a copy of a letter from Knox to Sir Walter Beaupré Townley, HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. at the Court of Persia, dated 21 June 1914, countering complaints made by the Persian Government about British Indian postal service activities in southern Persia, by pointing out the perceived inadequacies in the Persian postal system (ff 130-133);
  • complaints made by HM Consul at Kerman (Lieutenant-Colonel David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer), of deficiencies in the existing Persian postal service at Kerman. The Consul emphasises insecurities and delays on routes to Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās] and Tehran, the inefficiency of staff, and the importance of the service to Kerman’s European community (ff 135-136, ff 77-78);
  • a memorandum written by Wilson to Cox, dated 21 July 1917, giving a detailed account of the prevailing political situation (including Anglo-Persian relations) in Northern Arabistan (ff 41-44);
  • the proposal, put forward by Cox in 1916, to open a British Indian post office at the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s (APOC) concession at Maidan-i-Naphtum [Meydān-e Naftūn]. It provokes much discussion between British officials in the Gulf, Government of India officials, and officials from the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and the Foreign Office, chiefly relating to the likely response of the Persian authorities to such a move, and whether the move could be justified. A useful précis of the differing opinions of officials involved in making the decision can be found at ff 14-18.

Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (222 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

The subject 897 ( Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. : British Post Offices) consists of 4 volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/242-245. The volumes are divided into 4 parts with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 226; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: an original printed pagination sequence is present between ff 160-224.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 1912/897 Pt 2 ‘Persian Gulf:- British post offices’ [‎135r] (274/456), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/243, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026393900.0x00004b> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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