File 791/1904 Pt 1 'Orders-in-Council: Persian Coast and Islands' [‎210v] (153/357)

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15 Meanwhile, in the years 1903-06, political eagencies led to the estab-
, 1B \ rL^iates or Vice-Consulates at Karmanshah, Ahwaz, Shiraz,
tahment of Consulate Vic ^ ^ added i n 1909 a Vice-Consulate at
Karman B d . dioial powers for 0 ur officers at Bandar Abbas and
Ivingah. 1 q 1 ^ tj ie establishment of those posts, but the
judicial necessities of the Consulates at Karman and Shiraz seem to haye been
overlooked.
ifi Tim further recommendation which I now venture to make in con
tinuation oftlat submitted in my letter No. 462,' above quoted with the object
nf consolidatin 0 ’ and regularizing our judicial position m Soutliern Persia, i S
4 hat°the limits'of the Persian Coast and Islands Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. be laid down
in section 2 of the Order as,
Mohammerah with its dependencies; the Coast and maritime province)
of Persia from Mohammerah to Gwettar both inclusive and t ic Islands of_ the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and Gulf of Oman, being withm the dominions of His Majesty
the Shah of Persia, including the territorial waters of Persia adjacent to the
said Coast and Islands/’
tt Maritime provinces ” might he defined in section 3 as “ the provinces of
Arahistan Pars, Laristan, Karman, Persian Baluchistan and those districts by
custom and for the time being included under the authority of the Persian
Governor of the Gulf Ports.
17 Such an alteration would enable His Majesty’s Consul at Karman, on
being duly empowered under the Order, to take cognizance of all offences com
mitted within the Consular jurisdiction and to dispose of them according to
Indian Law, with which he is of necessity familiar. It would correlate his
jurisdiction with that of the Consul at Bandar Abbas and of the Director of
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Telegraphs and greatly simplify judicial proceedings m any case
which might arise entailing reference from one to the other. It would have
the additional advantage of bringing into force in Persian Baluchistan, a code
of law similar to that^ in force in British Baluchistan, thus making joint
judicial action between our political officers on either side of the frontier easier
than hitherto.
It would enable His Majesty’s Consul-General for Pars to take Judicial
cognizance of all offences committed within his consular jurisdiction, and
would place under his judicial control those Consulates now administratively
within his sphere. ^
It would further secure that officers of the Government of India would
administer justice in accordance with Indian Codes, the latter being, it will be
generally admitted, more suitable to conditions obtaining in Persia, and parti
cularly in Southern Persia, than the somewhat complicated system indicated
in the Persia Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. .
18. The position of the Shiraz Consulate is already anomalous, as that
centre is the capital of Pars, of which the Besident at Bushire is Consul-
General, and is his summer residence; experience has shown, moreover, that it
would in practice be highly inconvenient and detrimental to the public service
to divorce the Political Besident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. from Judicial and
Consular Authority in Pars.
This anomaly will not, it is true, be removed should the proposals which
I have detailed above commend themselves to the Government of India and
His Majesty’s Minister, for the Persian Coast and Islands Order in Council A regulation issued by the sovereign of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Privy Council. will
then apply to the whole of Pars. There is no reason, however, why this should
be a source of embarrassment to His Majesty’s Consul at that place. No
Consular Officers exercise judicial functions in Persia under the Persian Order
in Council unless the Provincial Court has been specifically established in ^ and
for the district to which they are appointed. No such Court has been established
at Shiraz and in common with His Majesty’s Consuls at Karmanshah and