File 1377/1905 Pt 1 'Perso-Baluch Frontier: Frontier Demarcation' [‎158v] (88/188)

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Mirjawar is in itself a position of no importance to either Government. It
consists, I believe, of a small settlement of Belli oh lints, often shifted by their owners;
is not traversed by any important road, and has no trade. Its only value is that the
villagers who cultivate its fields produce a yearly harvest, which, although it would be
considered scanty in more favoured regions, makes it, like other small villages on the
Persian side of the frontier, a centre from whence supplies can be drawn. The sur
rounding country on both sides of the frontier line up to Kuh Malik Sink, where it
terminates, is a torrid desert, so much so that at the time of the Agreement of 1896
it was found both a useless labour and expense, in view of the physical difficulties of
demarcation, to mark it out on the ground itself, with the result that the correctness
of the map annexed to the Agreement is now doubtful, and that a fresh survey and
map may be necessary in order to bring it in harmony with the intentions of the two
Governments. The reopening of the question of the ownership of Mirjawar, which
i about 10 farsakhs south of Seistan, would most likely necessitate the postponement
till next cold weather of the despatch of Colonel Macmahon to the spot, as the heat
and want of water and supplies would render surveying operations there most difficult
in the Beluch summer which is now close upon us, and might thus oblige the British
Boundary Commission, which has already spent two years in Seistan, to remain there
for a further period. This postponement of the Commissioner’s departure from the
Persian frontier would cause additional expense to the Government of India, and would
probably not be agreeable to His Majesty the Shah, who has several times intimated
to me through your Highness bis desire that Colonel Macmahon and the force accom
panying him should return to India as soon as their arbitration work was complete.
It becomes, therefore, a matter for consideration whether a further inquiry on the
spot into the ownership of the contested land at Mirjawar is worth all the trouble and
expenditure of money which it would entail on both the Governments concerned.
A solution of the question had occurred to me which I submitted to your
l Highness at our interview on the 22nd ultimo, but which I could not then propose
to you formally, as I could not say how far it would be agreed to bv mv Government.
It was to the effect that we should abandon any further discussion as to the owner
ship of Mirjawar, and that the land there now occupied by the Persians should be
recognized as within Persian territory, whilst the Persian Government should enter
| into an Agreement with us for enabling our few outposts on the English side of the
| frontier to draw without restrictions, the supplies needed by them from the nearest
Persian villages, and in the case of our post at Bobat Killeh, which, as situated
, pn the Quetta trade route, is a somewhat important one, from Seistan itself.
\ our Highness appeared to view this proposal with favour, or at least to deem it
worthy of consideration, but asked for details as to the amount of supplies which we
proposed to export from Seistan and Beluchistan for our outposts. These details I
promised to procure for you as soon as I was able to ascertain from His Majesty’s
Government that they were prepared in principle to treat on this basis.
Lord Lansdowme, having now given me the necessary authority to do so, I write
to inform your Highness that I should propose, in lieu of any reopening of the
question of the frontier-line—
I. The grant of permission by the Persian Government for the officer com
manding the frontier post at Padaha on the English side of the so-called Mirjawar
River, to obtain vrater on the Persian side, and for the outposts at Padaha, Saindak,
and other places on our side of the line, to obtain freely and without restriction
j such supplies of grain and other necessities as they can procure from the Persian
| villages of Ladis, Mirjawar, Duzdab, and other small places betwuen Ladis and Kuh
i Malik Siah.
J. I he removal of the embargo on the export of grain from Seistau. The
minimum amount of supplies wdiich is required every year for the wants of the
garrison and posts along the Quetta trace route, so long as Quetta is not connected
b) railway with the Persian frontier, is 2,000 Tabreez khalwars of grain per annum,
and 80 or 100 kharwars of ghi, but the total abolition of the restriction would be
preferable to the fixing of any definite amount. The only objection which could be
made to this reform, namely, that it might, if the harvest were not as good as usual,
be a strain on the resources of Seistan, is sufficiently refuted by the fact that the
ocal Government alone have 11,000 kharwars of revenue grain per annum to dispose
0 ’ ^d often experience considerable dirficulty in disposing of it. The Persian
o cials m Seistan have frequently admitted to our officers the advisability of removing
t is prohibition, which, by limiting the amount of grain which can be sold, limits the
amount giown, and thus diminishes cultivation, and with it also commerce and the