File 747/1913 Pt 1 ‘Loans to Persia’ [‎20r] (44/480)

Sir A. Hardinge’s Telegram No. 60,
1st May 1903.
(P. 104).
(£200^000) AnSl ° ' Indian adVanCe
* See printed telegrams attached to
Pol 174/03.
Letter of Foreign Office to India
Office, 3rd April 1903.
(P. 16.)
Letter of 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. to Foreign
Office, 4th April 1903.
Pol. 2391/03.
Pol. 2488/1903.
Sir A. Hardinge’s Telegram No. 55,
9 th April 1903.
(P. 32).
t “The posts bring in a revenue after
payment of all expenses of 6 , 000 Z. a year.”
Vide Sir A. Hardinge’s Despatch No. 149,
16th August 1904 (P. 34).
Presumably in 1910 they are bringing
in little or nothing.
Pol. 2409/03.
“ It becomes, therefore, necessary that I should
foimally remind His Majesty the Shah’s Govern
ment that its promise that the customs of ‘ Southern
Persia (as distinct from those of Pars and the Gulf)
shall not be placed under foreign supervision and
control, cannot, in the view of His Majesty’s
Government, be ahected by any subsequent agree
ments with either the ‘ Banque des Prets 1 or the
Kussian Government, and remains fully binding
notv\ ithstanding any conditions which such agree
ments may purport to contain.”
Io this Note the Persian Government made no
reply.
13. At the beginning of 1903, after the con-
clusion m the preceding year of the South African
War, important correspondence'^ passed with the
Foreign Office and the Government of India dis
cussing, in relation to strategical considerations, the
method by which His Majesty’s Government should
come to the financial assistance of the Persian
Government and the quid pvo quo to be asked for.
Iheie was difficulty in making a direct loan in view
of the engagements of Persia with Russia as to
future borrowing, and in the final result it was
agreed to advance to the Persian Government,
through the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of the Imperial Bank of Persia,
a sum not exceeding 300,000b On the 8th April
1903 an agreement (Appendix III.) was signed at
Tehran for an advance through the Bank of 200,000b,
at the rate of 5 per cent, interest per annum. The
Persian Government engaged to repay the advance,
capital and interest, m 20 years out of the proceeds
of the royalties of the Caspian fisheries (Ap
pendix II.) ; if these were insufficient, out of the
revenues of the posts| and telegraphs (para. 42),
and, in the last resort, out of the revenues of the
customs of Fars and of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
Sir A. Hardinge at the same time reported that
in the opinion of the Bank Manager the absence of
any clause allowing anticipations was sufficient
practical safeguard against repayment before the
end of 20 years, and he added that later on the
repayments might be transformed into a terminable
annuity.
The sum of 200,000b was paid to the Bank by
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. on the 11th April 1903. 14
Remuneration of the Imperial
Bank of Persia.
Letter of Foreign Office to Bank,
7th April 1903.
(P. 27).
Pol. 2400/03.
14. The terms in which the Imperial Bank of
Persia were to be remunerated for their share in
the transaction are shown m the following extract
of a lettei addressed to the Bank by the Foreign
Office on the 7th April 1903 :—
I am to inform you that, in the event of a
satisfactory arrangement being arrived at, the sum
of 200,000b will be paid to the Imperial Bank of
Persia by the Secretary of State for India for the
purpose of being advanced to the Persian Govern
ment^ the Bank being the nominal lender, and
charging the Persian Government interest at the
late of 5 per cent, per annum, of which 4 per c,mt.