Coll 28/39(2) ‘Persia. Printed Correspondence, 1937–’ [‎57v] (114/320)

dismissed from his post of Head of the Municipality of Shiraz. There seems no
doubt that he had demanded and received bribes from every quarter. He left
the Municipality in debt to the extent of Rials 700,000, mostly advances from
the National Bank made for works which he had failed to carry out. Except for
a series of demolitions, including that of the ancient Kovan Gate and of part of
the magnificient bazaar of Kerim Khan Zand, there is nothing to show for his
tenure of his post. In October M. Soheily was sent back to Shiraz under arrest
for the investigation of various charges against him. In September three officials
responsible for the administration and settlement of the Qashgai and Khamseh
tribes were also dismissed and sent to Tehran. They are said to have sent reports
to Tehran stating that a large number of houses had been built for the tribes. A
general sent from Tehran to inspect the district found that their reports were
untrue and that no account could be given of a sum of a million rials allotted for
trial settlement.
2. It must be admitted that the bribery and corruption which has been ram
pant in Ears is, though on an unusually large scale, no means exceptional in the
Iran of today. Observers who have known this country for many years and
since long before the Pahlevi regime, say that they have never known corruption
to be as widespread as it now is. The growing interference of the State in every
aspect or life gives local officials, and especially the Police, unlimited opportunities
of graft. At the same time the salaries of Iranian officials are small, while the
social changes of the recent years oblige them to adopt a far higher standard of
living than was formerly required of them. Often they can have no alternative
but to make an illicit income while they can.
3. A curious and interesting appointment has now been made to the Gover-
norate-General in Pars. The new Governor-General is M. Muhammad Ibrahim Alam,
who will be more familiar under his former title of Shaukat-ul-Mulk (Personalities
in Iran No. 189). He was of course formerly hereditary Amir of Kain, and a great
landlord in Seistan and the Kainat. For some time he had been closely attached
to the Shah in Tehran, and like the Qawam, had been a member of his suite on
recent tours. His appointment to Pars was a complete surprise to him. He had
been appointed Governor-General of Kerman and had already sent all his furniture
and possessions there. But when he called on the Shah to take leave, he was told to
proceed immediately to Pars. When Mr. Watkinson called on him in Shiraz,
Shaukat-ul-Mulk confessed that he was completely bewildered. He said he knew
nothing of Pars and had never been a Governor under the present
regime. He hoped that his appointment would be merely temporary. But
he made no secret of his fears that his appointment was really a banishment
that would lead to disgrace and ruin, in anticipation of which he had sent all
his family to his properties in East Iran. It is significant that the Shaukat, who
has laways been markedly pro-British and was a great friend in particular of
Colonel Daly, disclaimed all knowledge of English, which he is believed formerly
to have spoken fluently. He is not likely to run the risk of a charge of being pro-
British in his work in Pars. Mr. Watkinson anticipates that he will be little but a
figurehead, and that he will not be able to impose his will on the Police or Muni
cipality or Revenue Office and still less on the local Army Command. The cir
cumstances of his appointment will probably make him only too anxious to avoid
being dragged into prominence in any way, and it is hardly to be hoped that he will
succeed in improving or cleaning up the administration of Pars. But the experi
ment of appointing to a Governorate-General a great hereditary landowner is an
interesting one, and developments in Pars will be watched with interest.
I am sending copies of this despatch to the Secretary to the Government of
India in the External Affairs Department No. 224, and to His Majesty’s Consular
Officers at Shiraz, No. 37, Tabriz No. 20, Ahwaz No. 61 and Kermanshah No. 36.
(92)
Letter from His Majesty’s Minister, Tehran, to the Foreign Office,
London, No. 445, dated 4th December 1937.
I have the honour to inform you that the text of a lengthy address delivered
by His Excellency Hassan Vassuq, G.C.B., President of the Parhangistan, the new
Academy for the revision of the Iranian language, on September 28th last, has
recently been reproduced in the local press.