'Persia: Affairs of Arabistan' [‎3v] (6/6)

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Subject to this proviso, he cordially agrees with recommendations (ii), (iii), (iv) y ...
and (vi) above.
As regards recommendations (i) and (v), he would prefer to limit his concurrence
to the tenure of their respective posts by the present incumbents at Ahwaz and
Mohammerah, and to hold himself free to make fresh recommendations in the light of
experience in due course.
30. The Government of India will observe that, notwithstanding the large
number of Europeans and Indians in the oilfields and the important interests centred
there, I have not proposed that there should be any Government representative there.
I have reached the conclusion, after much consideration, that the balance of advantage
lies in leaving the responsible representatives of the Company on the oilfields, as at
Abadan, to work out their own salvation as far as possible with local interests and
with their own employees, consular intervention being sought only in emergency.
This plan has been followed for the past 10 years, and we have no reason to regret it.
37. On the oilfields the Company owes its immunity from serious disputes between
Indian employees and between British and Indian employees, and between themselves
and the local Persian labourers and residents, and surrounding nomads, mainly to the
personality of Dr. M. Y. Young, C.I.E., who has carried the complete confidence of all
classes. He was given judicial powers as a First Class Magistrate in 1918, and has
used them, though somewhat reluctantly, with good effect without arousing any sort
of resentment.
The time will come when Dr. Young will seek some fresh sphere of activity, and
it will be the duty of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to see that he is succeeded by
an equally sympathetic officer with a knowledge both of Persia and of India. I have
no doubt that this will be done.
At Abadan the position is easier, as Mohammerah is only 9 miles away, and
both the British and Indian employees-are not slow to refer such differences as cannot
be settled locally, to His Majesty’s Vice-Consul.
38. The Vice-Consuls referred to above should have the powers of First Class
Magistrates.
His Majesty’s Consul for Arabistan should have the powers of a Judicial Assistant
to the 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. . These powers have already been conferred upon Captain
Peel, and the exercise of them has been found useful in practice, and of all the appeals
against decisions of successive Judicial Assistants that have been received and dealt
with by me at Baghdad during the past three years, only in one case did the Judicial
Secretary, who advised me in these matters, consider that there had been any
appreciable failure to comply with the due provisions of law and procedure. In no
case was there a failure of justice, nor was any decision reversed on appeal.
39. It remains to refer to the question of a British representative at Behbehan.
This is an important town which has for some time past come within the scope of
the Bakhtiari Khans, and is of considerable potential importance from the point of
view of British trade, and is, like other areas in this region, a potential oilfield.
The reasons for and against our taking active interest in its affairs have been
fully brought out in previous correspondence. I need only record nry opinion that
steps should be taken as soon as we conveniently can to establish a Consular Agent of
our own there under Ahwaz, who should lie a Persian subject but not a local man;
and that steps should be taken, in communication with the Bakhtiari Khans and the
Shaikh of Mohammerah, to make a motor road as soon as possible from Ahwaz to
Behbehan. This would only involve, as far as I know, the expenditure of a few
thousand pounds, and it should prove a highly profitable venture, as have the Ahwaz-
Shushtar and Ahwaz-Dizful roads, for which local money should readily be forth
coming, a company being formed, and a toll being put on motor vehicles using the
road.
40. It may be of interest in this connection for the Government of India to
know that since the armistice some 30 motor vehicles have been purchased by local
merchants at Ahwaz and Shushtar, and that a regular motor service is being main
tained between these towns and between Ahwaz and Mohammerah, which is understood
to be very profitable to the promoters.
I am, &c.,
A. T. Wilson,
Lieut.-Coh, LA.,
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. .