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File 1912/897 Pt 2 ‘Persian Gulf:- British post offices’ [‎136r] (276/456)

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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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(\36j
3
Customs, have to go through the mill entailing the usual delay and payment of
fresh postage.
Damage to material passing through the post.
o. No efficient steps have been taken in the past to protect letters and
parcels from the effects of the weather. If wet weather is encountered, or if a
bridge over a stream breaks, the post is delivered at Kerman in a s °a d <; n con '
dition. I have, with others, suffered much in this way, and have had many
books ruined. I have frequently complained to the Post Master, who usually
satisfies himself with denying patent facts, and when pressed further informs me
that “ books are not susceptible of damage I have recently however been
shown by him a telegram from M. Molitor sanctioning the purchase of water
proof wrapping material. This appears to be a compliance with my reiterated
recommendations, and is duly appreciated. I do not however unagine that the
Post Master has the least idea what sort of material to get or where to procure
it from.
Outgoing Bandar Abbas mail.
10 Much that has been said above applies of course equally, mutatis
mutandis, to the out-going mail. Apart from these points the chief source of
complaint in this case lies in the fact that the out-going mail is so timed as hablt *
ually to miss connection with the Indian-bound mail steamers at Bandar Abbas.
According to His Majesty’s Consul the Kerman post reaches Bandar Abbas,
when not delayed by abnormal circumstances, on Saturday or Sunday, while the
India mail leaves in alternate weeks on Friday and Sunday. The Kerman post
therefore never catches the Friday boats, and frequently misses the bunday
ones. It will be noted that as the post leaves Kerman on Thursday even
ing it apparently takes 16 to 17 days to reach Bandar Abbas. It is possible
however that it takes 9 or 10 days ; I cannot say for certain. If the latter is the
case it only further shows how inefficiently the up-coming post is dealt with.
n. This missing of the mail boat at Bandar Abbas results in the extremely
frequent despatch of two outward mails by the same boat, and the delivery of two
weeks’ mails together in Europe. I have known cases in which 3 weeks mails
were delivered together. This, it can be easily understood, is otten excessively
annoying both for business men and private individuals.
The Tehran mail route.
12. The chief defects in the Northern Service are
1. Slowness.
2. Insecurity.
As regards (1) the post from Tehran never, I think, reaches Kerman m
less than 3 weeks, and at least a month is the normal time. - This can only be
due to the failure to employ wheeled transport, and then to an insufficiency 0
pack or riding animals. In F. G. Browne’s “ Persian Revolution page 417, 1
is stated that in the time of the Amin-ul-Mulk, about 1873-4 apparently, a let
ter would go from Tehran to Kerman or vice versa in seven or eight days .
From enquiries I have made it appears that this particular statement of the
author’s is correct. This was of course only possible when pohtica experiments
had not removed the “ Chappar ” System along with other traces of administra
tive efficiency from the country.
11 As regards (2), the post is very frequently held up or actually robbed
between Yezd and Isfahan. The Pars robbers’favourite striking point appears
to be Nau Gumbaz. This place lies outside the Kerman province, which makes
it impossible even to attempt to remedy matters from here.

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’ [‎136r] (276/456), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/243, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026393900.0x00004d> [accessed 25 April 2024]

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