Coll 29/104 'Appointment of an Indian to the Tehran Legation (First Secretary or Trade Commissioner)' [‎38r] (75/243)

r
,<S>
Copy *
(E 372/372/34).
/r,^U
28 mn 1^44
FILE COPX
No. G. 332A/9/43. with tha Camplimairts
of thm
UiHtar 3oo«*at*ry of SIKV
“N tor Foreiga Affaiw
Dear Peterson,
29th Deceraher, 1$43«
"3 S*
04
i l
ritish Legation,
Tehran*
Dinrcr
In your compliments-slip of 13th Aplr^ii 4-ast, l
(No*B 1213/1213/34) you sent me a copy of"a letter to Wakeley
about the proposal to appoint an Indian First Secretary to
this Legation* Since then Squire, the Counsellor for India,
has gone, and has been succeeded by Lt*-Col. Macann* Like
Squire, Macann has devoted much of his time to the question
of wheat supplies* This is not a specifically Indiaaquestion,
though India is interested,and if we have entrusted it to the
Additional Counsellor, it is because Indian Politicals have
administrative experience which is of great value in this
matter* We are, however, handing over immediate responsibility
for watching and encouraging \tieat collection to the Middle Bast
Supply Centre, and the Legation will confine itself to watching
the general situation* This will reduce considerably the amount
of work to be done by Colonel Macann, and he will be able, if
he thinks it necessary, to devote more time to specifically
Indian affairs, and in particular to visit the Consular Posts in
the East and South which are staffed by the Government of India*
He will also be able to give help and guidance to the Indian
Trade Commissioner of whose appointment we now have very
considerable hopes, fudging by telegram No*11322 of December
22nd from the Government of India to the India office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ^ The
course of events since your letter was written has confirmed
my belief that an Indian First Secretary could not have fbund
work to do to justify his appointment* There is work to be
done among the Indian community in Tehran, but it is not such
work as could be done by a First Secretary* I have recently
had correspondence with India on this question and I report it
for your information*
2* When I arrived here four years ago I found that the British
Indians were trying to form a club, and both I myself and the
then Consul spent much time and trouble helping them to secure
permission from the police, who under Reza Shah were very
suspicious of such activities* I also took trouble to give an
Indian party each of the first two years, and at all general
parties since my arrival, e*g* the receptions for Mr* Lyttelton,
Mr* Willkie etc*, a few of the leading Indians have always
been invited* The Indian community, however, have not been
easy to deal with* Most of them are Sikhs, who are notoriously
difficult people* Hardly a single man in the community is of
such status that he would be invited to the house of a high
official in India* Most of them are of the petty trader or
chauffeur type, and a few have become rapidly rich by the sale
of motor spares* Some of the Sikhs were believed to be ill
disposed towards His Majesty’s Government, and the course of the
war for the first two years encouraged this disposition* The
club became little more than a gambling-saloon enlivened, it
was believed, by the broadcasting of the German bulletins*
Eventually it collapsed through internal dissension* Squire
did what he could with the Indian community when he first came
but, as you can see, it was a difficult job*
Sir Maurice Peterson, K* C* M* G*,
The Foreign Office*
3./