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Coll 28/3(2) ‘Persia. Financial situation.’ [72v] (144/817)
The record is made up of 1 file (407 folios). It was created in 7 Sep 1938-1 Jan 1946. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
It should first be recalled that on two previous occasions the Iranian
Government had invited American missions to this country. In addition to
these missions, individuals and groups of other nationalities had served i. K
the country at different times, in different capacities, and *>'
shorter periods. Any thoughtful Iranian who is acquainted with the history
of his country during the last forty years will see that certain fundamen a
conditions have existed and persisted and that these conditions - political
economic, financial, and administrative - have made the employment of
foreign advisers and administrators not only desirable but necessary and
inevi table.
This same thoughtful Iranian will also remember that the American
missions, each of whom assumed in the past as at present substantial
authority and responsibility, coped with serious difficulties and encountered
opposition from one quarter or another. In fact, difficulties and opposition
arc inherent in such a task. If difficulties or the probability of opposition
had not existed, we would never have been needed in this country or
invited to it.
1<or about fifteen years prior to the events of Shahrivar 1320, Iran
had been under a governmental regime which may be credited with much
constructive work but must also be charged with certain effects that were
fundamentally reactionary and degenerative. This regime, as might have
been expected, exerted a particularly powerful influence throughout the
administrative and official classes and among the private individuals
outside who were most closely in contact with the Government. All
individuals were not affected in the same way, and some were probably
not affected at all; but a large number of those persons, who should have
given us administrative assistance and official support, had lost in seiious
measure, those qualities on which the success of our work depended-honesty,
courage, capacity for initiative and leadership, the feeling ol personal
security and of freedom, loyalty, devotion to duty, the sense of responsi
bility, the willingness and ability to account for public funds, reliance on
hard work and meritorious performance for advancement, adaptability to
reforms and new systems, readiness to obey orders and regulations, and
respect for the spirit of the law. The obstacles thus created were intangible,
but they seriously delayed and arc still delaying the progress of our work.
It should also be noted that, under the dictatorial regime, the
About this item
- Content
Papers reporting on the financial situation in Iran, sent by staff at the British Legation at Tehran (Horace James Seymour; Reader William Bullard) to the Foreign Office, London. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/3 ‘Persia. Financial situation’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3394).
The file includes:
- Covering letters enclosing copies of the monthly Bulletin , produced by the Bank Melli Iran (also referred to as the Mellié Iran Bank, and Banque Mellié Iran). The copies of Bulletin are not included in the file (although some front covers do survive), however the covering letters give short summaries of their lead articles.
- Details and estimates for Iran’s annual budgets, with numerous statistical tables.
- Correspondence dated December 1939 to February 1940 relating to irrevocable documentary confirmed credits (irrevocable letters of credit) opened by Bank Melli Iran through banks in India (ff 356-361).
- Copies of laws passed by the Iranian Parliament, including a law relating to war credits and treasury bills (in French, f 334), a Law for the Prevention of Hoarding (ff 325-329) and an Income Tax Law (ff 262-271).
- Correspondence and budget reports dated 1943-1944, produced during the takeover of the administration of Iran’s Finance Ministry by a mission from the United States, led by Arthur Chester Millspaugh.
At the front of the file (ff 4-200) are fourteen monthly reports of the Administrator General of the Finances of Iran (Millspaugh), produced according to the Solar Hijri calender, and dating from Ordibehesht 1322 (equivalent to the Gregorian calendar date of 22 April to 22 May 1943) to Mehr 1323 (23 September to 22 October 1944). The reports, which also contain lists of staff of the Iranian Ministry of Finance and its connected organisations, summarise Iranian finances. Many of the reports contain a map of Iran (for example, folio 185), showing borders, roads and railways, major towns and cities, and districts, which are numbered 1 to 10.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (407 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file. The file’s correspondence begins at folio 202 and ends at folio 407. Printed reports occupy the front portion of the file (with an enclosing note, ff 4-201), and are also arranged in reverse chronological order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 408; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 28/3(2) ‘Persia. Financial situation.’ [72v] (144/817), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3396, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100037593728.0x000091> [accessed 18 August 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/3396
- Title
- Coll 28/3(2) ‘Persia. Financial situation.’
- Pages
- 187r:200v, 176r:186v, 162r:175v, 149r:161v, 138r:148v, 126r:137v, 109r:125v, 84r:108v, 68r:83v
- Author
- Bank Melli Iran
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.