Coll 28/39 ‘Persia: Printed Correspondence 1929-1936’ [‎81v] (173/1174)

11. The Police services in the towns appear efficient and the discipline of
the force is good. Burglaries are on the decrease.
12. The dVil administration in all its branches has made large strides
towards efficiency but many of the services are still backward. The difficulty
appears to lie in the lack of attraction to the educated young man of the lower
r inks of this service. The pay and conditions here are poor. The junior offi-
e a ls are therefore as a rule persons of little education who are marking time
in the position until they can find more remunerative employment elsewhere.
13 It is not easy either to find suitable candidates for the higher ranks,
e n heads of departments, assistant governors, &c., and many of those hold
ing the positions are venal unless under immediate control. I have heard the
Tito Governor-General of Pars complain that the difficulty m administration
was the' Set'of sufficient trustworthy men. H. E. .K^n Ahy was him
self a very jrood type of the modern senior Persian official. Educated at ti.o
Russian School in Tehran, he studied law in Russia and was a Judge of Appeal
before comin^ to Ears. A conscientious, honest and hardworking official lie
was the very opposite to his successor Abul Eath Mirza, Dowlat Shalu, a
pleasing individual hut a confirmed gambler and spendthrift. But the latter
L a representative of the class which owes position to rank and influence. I
imagine that he will not hold his position for long as he is being hard pressed
by creditors.
14. I have not heard many reports showing the working of the Adliyek,
But efforts have been made to improve the status of the judges and I mio'.r
rS nr» /■»f»P f 1 ,‘if'Tcint 1111UStlCe.
15 The worst public service appears to he the Post Office, the staff being
not only backward but inadequate. The telegraph services have not been
brought up to date for external work. In Shiraz tffe whole routine of the office
depends upon one man, an Armenian formerly of the I. E. T. Department
staff.
16. Good and steady progress is being made with education and the Persian
youth of both sexes is now receiving a very fair elementary and middle eciirse
education, including physical drill.
17 Many improvements have been made in communications during the last
five years. Roads are being maintained and reconstructed. Mechanical
Transport on which traffic depends, is under stricter control and the tiaveller
is provided with up to date transport. Omnibus services between Bushire-
Shiraz-Isfahan cater for the more moderate purse.
18. Town improvements on a fair scale have been undertaken during the
last six years and most towns now possess a large central avenue. In Shiraz
street making is in progress and sections of the old bazaar are being done away
with for the object. The most noticeable work is in Isfahan where some five
hundred houses'have been pulled down recently for the Northern extension of
the Ohahar Bagh Avenue which will now be joined to the Tehran road. \\ ork
of restoration has been undertaken in the Maidan. It is hoped to reconstruct
this on the oridnal plan. The madrasseh and the masajid are being suitably
repaired. The"town now has 8 spinning mills and the construction of further
factories is in contemplation.
19. I am not touching upon commercial, economic or industrial questions in
this short report. Reference to these subjects were made in my Summary of
Events and Conditions in the Province of Ears for the year 1935.
20. During my stay in Persia I have seen the disarming of the tribes ^ in
Kurdistan and the consequent revolt of the Jaf chieftain, Ja. 5 afar Sultan.. This
took nearly two years to quell and was followed by the troubles in Buristan.
Here the disturbances were due to attempts by government to settle the bars
in other districts. The Qashqai and Khamseh tribes had byen disarmed before
my arrival in Ears and the last revolt of the Qashqai chi'Than Ali Khan had
been suppressed. Saulat-ud-Dowleh had only just died in a Tehran prison and
the Qavam-ul Mulk was residing in the capital, as were the principal relatives
of both chiefs. The rigid control of the tribes under midtary governors has
continued ever since and the project of settlement of the tribes in defined areas,
with the abolition of the annual migrations, is materialist ag. All these measures
are aimed at the breaking-up of the tribal system. I have not heard of. any
strong personality likely to come forward to claim tii j tribal chieftainship i*
the opportunity should occur.