'REPORT on the Working of the Line of Communication AND ON THE Withdrawal of the British Military Mission IN EAST PERSIA, 1919-20. GENERAL STAFF INDIA. [‎27r] (60/168)

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IX.— Ordnance.
In Aprl 1920 there existed nine Ordnance Depots on the Line, situated at
Hurmuk, Sistan, Safedawa, Shusp, Eirjand, Kain, Jurain, Turbat and Meshed,
that at Meshed being by far the largest as it supplied the \tants of the'u hole
of the Meshed ^ Force. In addition, there was a large Ordnance Depot at
Duzdap administered by the Quetta Division.
Each Depot was in charge of a non-commissioned ofl[5oer with or without
an assistant, who worked under the orders of the Supply and Transport officer
of the Section who in turn was responsible to the Deputy Assistant Director of
Ordnance Services at Line of Communications Headquarters in all matters
pertaining purely to Ordnance duties. Practically all of the non-commissioned
officers were temporary sergeants of the Supply and Transport Corps who were
not in any w ay conversant w ith Ordnance Stores and duties. T his can hardly be
called an ideal organization, hut owing to the shortage of trained Ordnance
personnel in India it was persumably the best that could be devised.
2. The system adopted for keeping up the reserves and stocks at the various
Depots was as follows :—
Six monthly estimates of requirements of Clothing and General Stores
were called for from each Depot and after supervision in the Ordnance Direc
torate Office a consolidated estimate giving the detailed requirements at every
post was forwarded to the Ordnance Depot at Duzdap who included same in
their demand on Quetta when making provision. It was found necessary to
work on a six monthly rather than a three monthly basis owing to the great
length of time required to get stores through the upper post on the Line, and
to the delays which often occurred in obtaining stores from Quetta Arsenal.
The average time taken to forward Stores, after arrival at Duzdap, to Meshed
was from 10 to 12 weeks which necessitated larger stocks being maintained
than would otherw ise have been the case.
All other requirements and liabilities outside these estimates were reported
by the officers in charge of the Depots direct to the Ordnance Directorate Office
so that stores could be moved from Post to Post as circumstances required.
In the case of Meshed, the British Senior Officer of the Force forwarded this
Office a weekly list of his outstanding requirements so that these could he
expedited from India and from Post to Post. In those instances where intima
tion wns received either from the Ordnance Depot at Duzdap or Quetta Arsenal
that certain Stores were not available, these were then procured by Local
Purchase through the Ordnance Directorate Office, or in the case of Meshed,
Turbat and Birjand wffiere local bazars exist, they were purchased by the Supply
and Transport Officer concerned. Only very small quantities of Stores were
procured by means of local purchase as it was seldom that either Quetta
Arsenal or the Railhead Depot failed to produce the Stores required and the
sums thus expended w r ere accordingly very small.
X.— Works.
1. The establishment of the Works Directorate consisted of an Assistant
Director of Works and Six Section Engineers with six Assistant Engineers.
Headquarters was situated at Birjand with other Headquarter Offices of
the Line of Communications.
The Six Sections had their Headquarters, 1st Section at Meshed, 2nd
Section at Turbat, 3rd Section at Kain, 4th Section at Birjand, 5th Section
at Shusp, 6th Section at Hurmuk, with a subsidiary Section at Sistan. The
strength of each Section was nominally a Section Engineer, an Assistant
Section Engineer with one clerk for accounts and correspondence, a Store
keeper and a varying strength of subordinates according to the personnel
available and work in hand. There was an establishment of 27 Overseers
and Sub-Overseers approved but this was never up to strength. Sufficient
Officers to provide Assistant Engineers in all sections were never available.
199 CGS