Coll 29/39 'Seistan (Zabul): office allowance; hospital; motor cars' [‎39r] (80/150)

i
4 .
I would therefore respectfully urge that something, on a
smaller scale perhaps than TvTr.G-ould’s proposals, he done to
assist the Consul and his staff at this post in the matter of
motor transport*
3. The Sistan and Kain Consular district differs from others
in Persia, such as Meshed and Kerman, in that it contain no
large central tov/n in which most of the work is concentrated*
Sistan itself is an oasis dotted with mud villages of which
Nasratahad, the headquarters of the local administration and
of British Consul, is merely the largest* Such importance as
h T asratahad enjoyed before the war as an entrepot of the Indo-
Persian trade has disappeared since the arrival of the railway
at Duzdap/ aid the deflection of the trade to the direct
Duzdap—3irjand—Meshed route, and if the Consul is to keep in
touch with the outside world, and in particular with the
comparatively heavy commercial and passenger uruj-fic ^/hicn
passes through Duzdap, it is essentia-L that he should "visit
the latter place at least four or five times in the year. The
summer headquarters of the Sistan Consulate is at Birjand, the
capital of the Q,ainat, a sub-province at least as important
politically and commercially as Sistan; during the summer it
is generally necessary for the Consul to visit Sistan at least
once from Birjand, and in the winter Birjand from Sistan. Apart
from the above journeys, now that the Sarhad is within the
sphere of the Sistan Consulate, both Khwash and Dehaneh-i-
Baghi have to be visited occasionally; while it is advisable
for the Consul to go at least once a year to Leshed to confer
with His Majesty’s Consul General on the numerous questions in
which both officers are concerned. The distances invol/ed in
the above regular touring are as follows
Sistan Duzdap Miles*
Duzdap Khwash . * .1^6
Duzdap Dehaneh-i-Baghi* 68
Sistan -Birjand(January-July route
via Girdi) 325
Sistan -Birjand(August-December route
via Bandan) 234
Birjand Meshed. • 300