File 523/1912 Pt 1 'Persia: Imperial Bank: mint contract' [‎160r] (315/386)

pounds sterling), of which the equivalent will be repaid as the silver is coined by the
Imperial Mint. Interest on all such advances shall be charged at the rate of 5 per
cent, (five per cent.) per annum. 1
8. All silver en route to Tehran, in the bank and at the Mint, during the process
of coinage or otherwise, will remain under hypothecation to the bank as security for
the sums advanced. It is agreed that—should the necessity arise—the approximate
profit accruing to the Government on each parcel of silver sent to the Mint is to be
held at the disposal of the Government from time to time in advance, full provision
however, being allowed for the refund of the cost of such silver and the charges and
interest due to the bank. It is also agreed that the amount of silver necessary to be
at the Mint at any one time, m order to keep the machinery fullv employed, is
considered to be about 50,000L (say fifty thousand pounds).
Done m triplicate at Tehran this twenty-seventh day of November m the vear
1911 A.D.
(The Imperial Government of Persia),
W. MORGAN SHUSTER,
Treasurer-General of Persia.
(The Imperial Bank of Persia),
A. 0. WOOD, Chief Manager.
( 6 .)
Memorandum left by Sir T. Jackson at Foreign Office March 4, 1910.
'Ve have always claimed a privileged position for the following reasons :—
1. Article 1 of the bank’s concession states: “The Government of His Imperial
Majesty the Shah grants by this concession to Baron Julius de Reuter, and his associates
or representatives, the right of founding a State Bank in the Persian Empire under
the name of “ The Imperial Bank of Persia,” and the capital of the bank was called
up in terms of the said article.
2. The bank has the exclusive right to issue notes in Persia which would require
us always to be in a position to have silver coined ; a position to which no other
institution in Persia can lay claim.
I call your attention to my predecessor’s letters dated the 16th and 23rd October,
1901, and 7th and 18th March, 1907.
Mr. Griffin to Sir T. Sanderson
Sir, October 16, 1901.
I have the honour to forward for your information and the consideration of the
Secretary of State copies of two telegrams received yesterday from the chief manager
of the Imperial Bank at Tehran, and a third addressed to the chief manager by the
Imperial Bank to-day.
Although this correspondence deals with a report not yet officially confirmed, we have
instructed our chief manager to take immediate action to protest before the conclusion
of a transaction which would cause most serious injury to the interests of the Imperial
Bank ; which would imperil English interests and compel us seriously to consider our
position and future in Persia. On behalf pf the board of the Imperial Bank I would
solicit the assistance and intervention of His Majesty’s Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs to prevent and prohibit the grant to a Russian bank, supported by the Russian
Imperial Treasury, of any control of the Persian Mint or exclusive right to coin silver
as inconsistent with our concession and our position as the State bank.
The question of the dismissal, or rather the threatened dismissal, of Mr. Maclean,
the administrator of the Mint, at Russian dictation, on the ground that he is a British
subject, affect^us very seriously; but it is not one of which the Imperial Bank can
take official notice. It may, with the utmost confidence, be left to His Majesty s legation
to prevent such discourteous treatment of a British officer who has given complete
satisfaction in the conduct of his duties, and was recently appointed by the Prime