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large sums for charitable and public objects; he has spent much in subsidies to
newspapers and individuals to secure their support; and Palace expenditure,
particularly that of the Royal sisters, must have swallowed up a very large sum.
It is an indication that the end of the 300 million is in sight that he recently
sounded Dr. Millspaugh as to a refund, out of the 400 million lent to the State,
of a sum which he wanted to give for the provision of a water supply for Bushire
—an approach which was unsuccessful. If the Shah has to apply to the State for^.
a civil list and is asked to produce an account of his expenditure since his
accession to the throne, the figures, if ever produced, will afford a sad contrast
to the prevailing poverty of the country during that period and will make it
difficult for the Shah to persuade the people that he really is, as he claims to be,
a reformer and a “ man of the Left.”
Food Situation.
13. An improvement in the rate of delivery of imported wheat, barley and
millet has made it possible to build up gradually a reserve of grain in the
Government silo at Tehran, which by the 19th June amounted to 10,367 tons, or
six weeks’ supply. This process had already begun when, in the second week of
April, the Soviet Government, without previously consulting His Majesty’s
Government or the United States Government, announced their intention of
despatching to Tehran, beginning in May, a quantity of 25,000 tons of wheat
at the rate of 7,500 tons a month. The promised wheat, according to the Soviet
authorities in Tehran, bore no relation to deliveries under the Anglo-American
Food Agreement. It was also not to interfere, as the Persian Government soon
discovered, with the delivery by the Persian Ministry of Supply to the Russian
forces in-Azerbaijan of the full amounts of grain previously agreed upon between
the Soviet authorities and the Persian Ministry of Supply, viz., 5,000 tons of
wheat, 15,000 tons of barley and 30,000 tons of rice. More curiously still, from
our point of view, the Russian promise to the Persian Government was made
independently of the fact that 20,000 tons of wheat and flour were then en route
to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. on Russian account, including 10,000 tons of leind-leiid
wheat.
14. The Russian grain began to arrive in Tehran on the 10 th May, and by
the 19th June nearly 8,000 tons had been delivered. Our own deliveries of wheat
are likely to be limited in consequence of this new development to the 25,000 tons
originally promised to the Persian Government under the Food Agreement, of
which some 21,000 tons have already been handed over. If Russian deliveries are
maintained it will probably be unnecessary for us to deliver the further 5,000 tons
which it was estimated would be necessary to keep the country supplied until the
harvest. Arrangements are also being made to stop any further supply of
adulterants from Iraq. Tehran is already consuming all-wheat bread.
15. The Persian Government took advantage in May of the improved supply
position in Tehran to raise the price of Government bread throughout the country
from 2 rials a kilog. to 3 rials a kilog., in order to avoid the loss hitherto incurred
on subsidised bread. This decision aroused surprisingly little criticism in Tehran,
but in at least one provincial town the authorities failed to enforce the new price
in the face of popular opposition.
16. The bread supply in the provinces remained generally insecure. In the
west, sources of supply, which had remained inaccessible during the winter
months, became available again in the spring, whilst imported wheat and millet
were also despatched in small quantities to eke out local supplies. In the south,
Bushire is being fed entirely on imported grain and supplies have also been sent
to Shiraz, Kerman and Yezd, but transport difficulties, not to mention the theft
of one consignment on the road by the Persian army, have impeded the fulfilment
of the original programme for the supply of imported cereals to these provincial
deficit areas. Fortunately, the prospects of an excellent harvest, combined with
the removal of the threat of a German invasion through the Caucasus, have
brought considerable supplies of grain on to the free market in most areas, and
where the Persian Government themselves have failed to supply a town with
sufficient good bread, all except the very poor have generally been able to buy
supplies of “ free ” bread, at not unreasonable prices.
17. Arrangements to collect sufficient of the new grain crop to meet the
requirements of Tehran and the large towns, estimated at 300,000 tons for the
whole of next year, have been put in train. landlords have been required as in
previous years to give undertakings to deliver their surplus crops to the Govern
ment at a price fixed at 3,000 rials a ton, with special prices in the frontier
districts. In order to settle the amount of these undertakings at a fair level, the