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Coll 28/41 ‘Persia. Trade Reports. Kerman 1924–’ [‎59r] (117/313)

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The record is made up of 1 file (154 folios). It was created in 14 Dec 1925-20 Apr 1943. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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7
(
(b) Construction of new roads. —A new allotment
of Bials 500,000 (£6,250) was sanctioned by the
Central Government at the end of March for re
sumption of work on the Kerman-Shahdad motor
alignment vid the Sirch Pass. The Governor-
General had shortly before this submitted a pro
posal to Tehran, recommending the abandonment
of this alignment in favour of one from Kerman
to Meshed vid Rawar, with which Shahdad could
be connected by a branch route. This proposal
having been rejected by Tehran, the Kerman-
Shahdad road work on which had been stopped
since October 1932, was once more taken in hand
towards the end of May. The chief reason for
deciding to go on with this road was said to be
the large sums of money already spent thereon,
i.e., about Rials 1,300,000 (£16,250), including the
amount subscribed by the land-owners. However,
the work was again stopped at the end of July, as
the result of fresh orders from Tehran.
In the month of June land-owners and merchants
from Rawar formed a company, in conjunction with
certain motor transport owners, for the making of
a motor road from Kerman to Meshed by the old
caravan route vid Raw'ar. The levelling of this
alignment was, therefore, taken in hand and com
pleted as far as Firdaus (lun) at the end of October,
when the road was reported to be passable by light
touring cars. With the exception, however, of a
few journeys by light touring cars, this road has
not been used for motor traffic, except as far as
Rawar. The Kerman-Rawar section, it will be
remembered, was already passable by light touring
cars. As the result of Governor-General’s report to
Tehran proposing the taking in hand of this road
by the Central Government, His Excellency received
instructions to inspect the Kerman-Firdaus section
personally and send a fuller report.
(c) Upkeep of old.—A. sum of Rials 700,000
(£8,750) was sanctioned by Tehran, at the end of
March, for the improvement of the Tang-i-Zagh
section of the Kerman-Bandar Abbas motor road
and the work of widening the pass has been going
on ever since. It should be remembered that the
Tang, which is a little more than a mile in length,
is the chief difficult section on this road, and often
gets blocked for many days together, on account of
land slides resulting from heavy rains, and that a
fair number of vehicles have met with accidents
there, sometimes attended with loss of life.
(d) Distance and average transport rates — summer
and winter — on the chief trade routes.—Vide Appendix
( e ) EJfect of motor on animal transport, rates and
turn over .—Animal transport is disappearing very
rapidly in this province. Motor transport is avail
able at such cheap rates that one does not feel the-
necessity of employing animal transport except on
those roads which are impassable for motor vehicles.
Besides, due to the depressed condition of trade,
there is hardly any turn over to require animal
transport in addition to the motor one. The pack
animals, so common on these roads, are hardly
ever seen, except on small journeys, not connected
with trade, from one village to another. The com
petition for motor transport is becoming more keen
than ever, resulting in lower rates and smaller turn
over. In one case barley was taken to Bandar
Abbas from Kerman at the ludicrous rate of hire of
Rials 12 per 100 mans.
(/) Air Service. —No air service exists in Kerman
and no aeroplanes have visited Kerman during the
last three years. The two aerodromes situated to
the east and N. N. W. of the city (both at a distance
of about 5 miles) have remain neglected.
(g) Wireless. —The wireless station in Kerman,
though not open to public, w T as kept in working
order throughout the year and has been used for
keeping up regular communications between Kerman
and some other important posts, but not in connec
tion with trade.
(A) Security. —W ith the exception of a few isolated
cases of petty robberies detailed below, securitv on
the trade and other general traffic routes was fairly
well-maintained throughout the province. The Road
Guards are to be congratulated on keeping the
Kerman-Bandar Abbas road much more safer this
year than it has been ever before. Owing to the
disturbances in Baluchistan, however, the Kerman-
Zahidan road remained unsafe during the last two
months of the year.
News of several petty robberies was received from
the various parts of the province during the month
of October. Two caravans carrying wool and other
goods from and to Meshed w'ere reported to have
been robbed between Darband and Naiband in the
middle of the month. Some Baluch raiders carried
35 unloaded camels, belonging to Yezdi Jilaudars,
in the district of Rigan on the south-east of Bam’
in the early part of October, and rumours of Baluch
raids at the latter part of the same month, in the
district of Kashit and the neighbouring countrv
along the western borders of the But, caused wide
spread alarm throughout the province. Detach
ments of troops from Kerman, numbering about
800 men, were despatched against the raiders.
9. Social.
(a) Standard of fmnp.—Standard of living is
decidedly low and since my report of last year no
efforts, have been made towards amelioration. High
Customs duties, taxations, poor harvests, all tend
to place even the ordinary necessities of life beyond
the reach of general public. Products of the dis
trict and the country, for the time being, are not on
such a larze scale to be placed wuthin the purchasin'
power of all and sundry, and the public, presumably^
having had no taste for the better never feel the lack

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Content

Printed trade reports for the Kerman Consular District in Persia [Iran], submitted by a succession of British Consuls for Kerman (Henry Duncan Graves Law; John Hunter Davies; Edward William Charles Noel; Cecil Henning Lincoln; George Arthur Falconer).

The contents of the reports vary from one year to another, but usually feature summaries of: the district’s financial situation; foreign trade; taxation; military affairs (commandeering of equipment, conscription); agriculture; industry (including textiles and carpet manufacture); communications and transport; state undertakings and control of trade; public utilities; social conditions (standard of living, unemployment, public health); information for travellers. Most reports include appendices with statistical data on trade, including: imports and exports at the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. port of Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]; imports and exports of key commodities into and out of Kerman; prices of foodstuffs; imports of Russian and Japanese goods.

Each report is preceded by 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. minute papers containing handwritten comments on the enclosed report. Many of the reports have pencil annotations.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (154 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 156; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-156; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

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English in Latin script
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Coll 28/41 ‘Persia. Trade Reports. Kerman 1924–’ [‎59r] (117/313), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3444, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100055834077.0x000078> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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