File 2976/1916 Pt 2 'Persia Bunder-Abbas-Kerman telegraph & road Bushire-Shiraz road' [‎142r] (281/294)

11
should the Lnghsh officials wish to proceed on inspections in districts
proclaimed as dangerous by the Persian Government, they shall inform the
nearest local authority in order that they may be provided with an escort.
Other Articies simikr to Articles VIII. to XII. of the Convention of 1901 for
the Central 1 ersia line would, with slight modifications, follow, but they need
not dg discussed liere.
tt ar - e vv ^' n su ^ a ble modifications the same as Articles I. and
± 1 . or the 1901 Convention.
Article III. is a simplified form of Articles III. and IV. of the 1901
Convention; the rental clauses have been omitted and the conditions we
require to make it worth our while to undertake the project have been
included.
Article . is the same as Article \. of the 1901 Convention, but changed
so as to make the maintenance of the line a Persian instead of a British
obligation.
Article V. is the same as Article VI. of the 1901 Convention, but omitting
the clauses about buildings.
When negotiations have been opened, we shall no doubt have to concede to
Persia something further than is included in the Articles as drafted, e.g., we
can as a first concession undertake the obligation to maintain the lines. I have
only made the obligation in Article IV. Persian ” in order that its change to
“ British may have the appearance of a concession. If a further concession
is demanded, we might agree to lend the services of the staff, required to
construct the lines, gratis. If the question of the payment of rental is raised,
we can point out that the Persian Government has not yet settled with us for
the Henjam-Bander Abbas line, and that we are not prepared to agree to the
payment of a rental until they do. We might eventually agree, should there
appear to be a danger of the negotiations breaking down, to knock off 1 , 000 L
or more from that liability.
The only buildings that will be required will consist of huts and stables for
the line staff and their ponies. These*can be put up at a cost of from 200Z. to
300L, a sum so small when compared to the total obligation as to hardly make
it worthy of being a subject of negotiation. I have therefore omitted the
mention of it in the draft of Article V.
The last sentence of Sir W. Townley’s telegram of the 19th December last
probably refers to a message I sent to Mr. King-Wood informing him that I do
not agree with him that a line from Kerman to Bander Abbas would alone
be of use for international purposes. For this opinion I have given reasons
above.