'Persia. No 2 (1909). Further correspondence respecting the affairs of Persia' [‎150v] (48/150)

joined by 150 Turkoman horsemen. Their leaders then interviewed the Governor,
who declared that he was a Constitutionalist himself. The crowd then dispersed, hut
the bazaars remained closed.
Ispahan.
Serdar Zafar (late Salar Arfa), who was instrumental in getting detachments
of Bakhtiaris to go to Tabreez, has been using the favour he thus earned with the
Shah to get his brother, Samsam-es-Sultaneh, deposed from the post of Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. of
the Bakhtiaris. The tribe is now divided into two parties, and trouble may be
anticipated. Samsam-es-Sultaneh was summoned to Tehran by the Shah, but declined
to go on grounds of health and because disturbances would occur in the tribe if he
went. It is uncertain whether he retains his post of Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. .
On the 29th December a demonstration took place against the Deputy-
Governor, and some 200 persons attempted to take refuge in the Consulate-General
but were not allowed to do so.
Yezd.
Deports received from His Majesty’s Acting Vice-Consul contain details of some
fourteen different robberies on the roads leading to Yezd. JNo road is safe, but the
Kerman and Nain Doads are the most unsafe. Posts can only get throuo-h by
circuitous routes. The robberies to the south are attributed to Lashanis amfother
Tars tiibes, and the Governor of Xezd states that these tribes will continue to commit
depredations until a strong Govern or-General is appointed, to Pars. Whatever be
the truth of this, the Governor is responsible for the guarding of the roads in the
lezd district. Unfortunately, he is a tool in the hands of Mushir-ul-Mamalek and
badr-ul-Olema, and has intrusted the payment of the road guards to them. These
two men have been trying to get road guards at half the rate of pay allowed by the
oveinment. In tnis they have not been successful, and meanwhile many road
guards, who have received no pay for seven or eight months, have deserted. The
Governor stated to Mr. Blackman that he had appointed one Mohammed Taki Khan
to take charge of the Ispahan Doad, and Mr. Lemon of the Telegraph Department
was told to apply to this man for an escort. When he did so Mohammed Taki Khan
merely laughed, and declined to give him an escort. Trade is going from bad to worse
and will soon cease altogether. The town and neighbourhood of Yezd are likewise
infested with bands of robbers, who visit the houses of wealthy Parsees, illtreat them,
and rob them of all their household goods and money. A young Parsee was recently
brought to the Church Missionary Society Hospital with one arm slashed off at the
elbow. He had refused to guide a robber band to the house of a wealthv Parsee.
Ihe robbers are often masked, but even when the Parsees can identify their assailants
Liey dare not complain for fear of reprisals. In one case, when an appeal was made
to the Governor, he declined all responsibility. An Armenian clerk of the Indo-
Luropean telegraph Department was attacked in the street on his way to work by a
man who attempted to deprive him of his great coat. The clerk produced a revolver,
u lereupon ns assailant decamped. No soldiers are forthcoming for the duties of
guards m Yezd, the present guard of the Imperial Bank of Persia consisting of two
so-cafied artillerymen, unarmed save for one old sabre.
PLerman,
Telegraphing on the 24th December, His Maiesty’s Consul renorted that for four
oftlm roads S ‘ S arr ‘ Ved ° r left Kerman > owing to lack of money and insecurity
Kermanshah.
the KXmaml 1 "f' Iamal f k M Govrl ' n ° 1 r ot Kasr-i-Shirin, finding himself unable to fight
the Kalhur and Guran tribes, was deposed from his Governorship by them and threw
Zllv i dtnend/ t ^rV^V' 16 Kalkur Chief ' ^an holds timseh
Push hA? I 0 !? Go T emor ’ an(1 fear3 110 one except the Vali of
I us t-1-Kuh. Ihe result is that the roads are m the hands of Daood Khan’s tribesmen
^noAumslrndTh 6 beei \ 1 ' obbf r ( f His Majesty’s Consul thinks that if Daood Khan
- ot punished the country will gradually become unsafe for Europeans, and British