'Despatch from Sir M. Durand respecting appointment of Additional Consular Officers in Persia' [‎104r] (11/18)

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than the pay of the Consul-General at Tabreez. As the work of the Consulates m
Persia is not only Consular but political, and as a certain amount of show is very
desirable in the East, I think the rates of pay and allowances given by Her Majesty s
Government are much too low, and this view is evidently shared by the Ptussians.
But I hesitate to propose appointments kept up on the Indian scale, because they
would probably seem to Her Majesty’s Government out of all proportion to the impor
tance of Persia. j. * t r
Another difficulty is that any new post maintained by the Government ot India,
for example Seistan or Bahrein, would probably be brought on the list of the Indian
Political Department, and the Government of India would have to fix the pay with
reference to the interests of that Department as a whole. However, I would suggest
as a basis of calculation that each Consul should have 600/. a-year pay, 150/. office
allowance, and 50/. house rent—total 800/ ; and that each A ice-Consul should have
400/. pav, 50/. a-year office allowance, and 50/. house rent—total 500/. I doubt
whether this is enough, but anything less than this would certainly he too little. ^ Ihe
Consuls-General at Tabreez and Ispahan should have at least 800/. a-^eai pay, 270/.
office allowance, and a free house.
The total expenditure on all the appointments suggested would be about 5,600/.,
as shown below—
Seistan
Kerman
liampur
Bunder Abbas
Bahrein
Karun
Kermanshah
Uriimia
Extra expenditure at Tabreez and Ispahan, say
Total
£
800*
800
500
500
500
500*
500
500
700
5,600
These proposals may he embarrassing from the point of view of the loreign
Office with reference to the rest of the Consular service. I can only represent the
matter from a local point of view. But I would observe that life in most paits of
Persia is for an Englishman terribly isolated. It is very different from the life in
European Consulates, or in seaport towns anywhere. It is also in some ways very
expensive, especially in regard to presents and the transport of supplies. And, as I
have said before, the work is largely of a political character. Possibly the difficulty
could be met by attaching an Indian allowance to Persian Consulates.
I have made no allowance for travelling expenses; it is very difficult to estimate
these ; but it should he clearly understood that our officers in Persia ought to travel
freely, and to know their districts. I mentioned this point in my Memorandum of
1895. . .
In a country like Persia a man is of comparatively little use if he remains all the
year round at his head-quarters, He should go about among the people and the
Nomad tribes, and inspect the trade routes, and generally see and be seen. For this
purpose he should have a proper scale of camp equipage, procured from India. At
present a Consul in Persia has no travelling tents kept up for him, and if he travels he
does so in a style which in India would be considered very unbecoming. He sleeps in
a dirty little room in a Persian posthouse, if he finds one empty; if not, he gets into
a mud hut in the nearest village. This kind of thing does harm, and should not be
allowed. In one case tents have been granted to a Consul. This should be done for
every officer in Persia, and every officer in Persia should be prepared to live in his
tents for a considerable part of the year.
Against the cost of the appointments and increase of pay proposed may be set oil
a certain amount of reduction. If the Resident at Bushire spends his summer in
Shiraz, we can, I think, do away with the native Agent Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government. . This would save 160/. a-year.
If we have a Consul at Ahwaz or Shuster we can abolish the Vice-Consulate at
Mohammerah. This would save 490/., or a little less, as we may want to keep a
Persian Agent there, and possibly one at Dizful, to do routine work. The native
Agent at Kermanshah can be abolished, which would save 24/. a-year. Finally, we can
turn the Resht Consulate into a Vice-Consulate, thereby saving 300/. a-year. A
Consul at Resht is not necessary. He gets no information of Russian movements
rith us.
* This may be somewhat increased by the necessity of maintaining native Agents Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government. .