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17. The Persian Government have asked for the co-operation of British
consular liaison officers in arranging these purchases. Other concessions have
also been made at our request to facilitate the procedure for the collection of
grain in country districts.
Transport Question.
18. Another vital question is transport. Persia’s economy now depends to
a great extent on road transport, but hitherto there has been no attempt at strict
control of the declining stock of tyres or the diversion of lorries from non-essential
to essential purposes. The U.K.C.C. had for some months been negotiating with
the Persian Government to obtain powers to carry out the much needed measures
of rationalisation themselves but the Americans, who supply the tyres and are
in a position to make their views felt in this question, have shown themselves
very sensitive to any suggestion that a monopoly might be created, and the
negotiations with the U.K.C.C. were, therefore, not successful. The proposal for
a transport board mentioned in paragraph 19 of my despatch No. 248 has,
however, been approved by the Persian Government. A committee to control
road transport has been set up with Persian, British and American
representation. Mr. Birkle, formerly of the U.K.C.C., has been engaged by the
Persian Government to advise and assist them in rationalising and controlling
road transport, and Sir Arthur Parsons is to be the official British representative
on the committee. Persian records of the registration of vehicles, which must
form the basis for any rationalisation, are, however, found to be completely out
of date, and as a first measure a census of all vehicles and tyres is to be made.
This cannot be completed before the 5th November. However, Major Quinall, of
the M.E.S.C., Jerusalem, is now in Tehran investigating the road transport
position for the purpose of achieving a stricter control of all motor vehicles and
the removal of non-essential vehicles from the roads. With this control it is
hoped that adequate supplies for essential motor transport can be arranged.
This, with the increased use of animal transport that is taking place, permits,
so I am advised, a cautious optimism about the future.
Polish Refugees.
19. A second evacuation of military and civilian Poles from Russia occurred
in August. 26,000 civilian Poles are for the moment in the Tehran area.
Fortunately, arrangements have been made for the 10,000 previously here to go
to East Africa and all will shortly have left Tehran. Meanwhile, in spite of the
provision of special imports of wheat, tea and sugar by M.E.S.C., the addition
of so many Europeans to the population of Tehran has given rise to some
misgivings among Persians, and the Persian Government is most anxious to get
rid of all Polish refugees. The British military authorities are equally anxious
to eliminate this responsibility here, and it is hoped that the efforts now being
made to find a destination overseas for them will shortly be successful.
20. This in no way exhausts the list of issues outstanding with the Persian
Government. Little progress has been made with the complicated question of
the payment for the arms already taken over by the British and Soviet Govern
ments from the Persian authorities and the acquisition of certain other arms
urgently needed by the British forces. Numerous points still await settlement
in connexion with goods required by the British military authorities, and this
question is bound to become more important now that the Allied forces in Persia
are to be increased to meet the change in the war situation. Further, the Prime
Minister has recently been requested to hand over to the R.A.F. all the
accommodation at Mehrabad Aerodrome, which is the last training establishment
in the possession of the Persian air force in the neighbourhood of Tehran. It
will be necessary to tackle these problems one by one, and I am hopeful that it
may be possible to reach satisfactory settlements.
Attitude of Persians towards the War.
21. Most of the difficulties which have arisen this summer in our relations
with the Persian Government are fundamentally traceable to a lack of confidence
on the part of the Persians that the Allies would be able to win the war, or even
(to bring matters nearer home) to keep the Germans out of Persia. The most
obvious sign of this was perhaps their recent suggestion in London and Moscow
that Tehran should be declared an open city. It is highly satisfactory that this
impracticable suggestion has been rejected, as the only real incentive to start