Coll 30/114 'Proceedings of H.M. Ships.' [‎12r] (23/1203)

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East Indies letter No 0 5l8/Eolol56 of 4/5/39 (Cont f d)o
14o When making arrangements for the visit, the
one thing which gave rise to some doubt and misgiving
originally was the accommodation which could be
provided for the detachment in the traino It turned
however that the arrangements could not have been betterfo
The train which had taken the Iranian Royal Party from
Bandar Shapyr to Tehran was sent straight back for the
British Naval Detachment, and the accommodation was such
that each man was provided with a sleeping bertho The food
provided on the train was excellent and to see the men
lunching off caviar and Caspian salmon was a delight o
The
15 0 ' HoMo the Shah was graciously pleased to
decorate all the senior members . £ he Q f
and the recipients in the case of the British dele
were the Earl of Athlone, Captain Hawkins and myself
Earl of Athbne received the Order of the Crown - the
highest Iranian Order, and Captain Hawkins and mysell
the Order of the Homayun (Imperial Order;, With regard to
my own Order, the circumstances under which it was
presented to me form the subject of a separate lettero
Captain Hawkins received the fourth class of the
Homayun Order, but it subsequently transpired that his
rank had been mistaken for that of a Captain in the Army
and when it was learnt that his relative rank was that
of full Colonel, he received a higher class of the
decoration 0
10
General*
I could not help being very impressed by what
Ho Mo the Shah has achieved during the comparatively few
years in which he has been in control of the countryc
Tehran itself is an enormous city where the very new
and ostentatious is inextricably mixed with the
ramshackle oldo This* in itself is typical of the country
where the prosperity of such towns as Tehran is in
striking contrast to the abject poverty of the villages®
The country is, however progressing; the railway from
Bandar Shapur is a masterpiece of engineering, and
was constructed at tremendous expense (one section of
nine miles through the mountains cost £l, 000,000 - the.e
are 127 t^nnels^ If, as is probable however it serves
to onen up the country, its expense will be justified®
Given very considerable capital, a vast amount could be
done with the water power of the mountains and the
fertile plain in the South, All this will however take
years to accomplish and except in the larger towns there
is no doubt that the country, judged by ordinary
standards, is very backward. In this connection I received
the 11 impression that the behaviour of a number of members
of the Egyptian delegation was not altogether in uhe
best of taste. They appeared to be bent on showing how
suoerior was Egypt to Iran* and did not hesitate to
indicate their contempt for anything which they did not
consider up to ?hei? ?wn standard. The organisation of
all the evening parties was certainly crude in the extreme,
ninTicuiarlv with regard to time, but it is or interest
tonotetliat the finll party given by H.Uo Queen Nazi! on.
the night of the 25th April and run entirely by Egyptians,
was more disorganised than any of the others.