Coll 28/41 ‘Persia. Trade Reports. Kerman 1924–’ [‎98v] (196/313)

8. Communications and Security.
52. (a) Roads .—During the year under report
no new roads were made and little was done to
improve the existing routes. The Bandar Abbas
motor road has proved unreliable as the Southern
section, which can scarcely boast of a single bridge
or culvert, is subject to serious wash-outs in the
winter. Moreover the Tang-i-Zagh which had been
reported against as an alignment in 1920 by British
Engineers is subject to interruption by land
slides.
53. As the result of the Shah’s visit in November
the question of a settled road policy and programme
came to fore. Kerman was made the centre for
road administration in South-East Persia which
includes ^ ezd, Birjand, and Lingah. The proposed
programme is to build a coastal road from Moham-
merah to the vicinity of the frontier of British
Baluchistan with arterial lines of communication
from Bandar Abbas, one to Tehran and the other
via Jiruft to Khurasan. The army, however, is in
favour of the development of Charbar as a port and
the construction of a strategical road to Bampur.
The alignment has been surveyed and the cost
estimated at Ts. 800,000.
Owing to the unsettled condition of the Bandar
Abbas Kerman motor road the mails on this section
were irregular but no actual robbery of mails took
place. The post which is supposed to take 46 hours
for the journey in many cases took three weeks in
transit. During September the mails from Bandar
Abbas were despatched vil Bushire and Isfahan.
The Duzdap mail worked satisfactorily on the whole.
The bi-weekly service of trains was, however, changed
into a weekly one.
New post offices were opened during the year at
Jiruft and Rudbar.
54. (c) Security .—Law and order have on the
whole been well maintained except in the South-
West corner of the Province where robbers from
bars and Ear have been continually interfering with
traffic on the Bandar Abbas motor road. Towards
the end of the year there was a recrudescence of
Baluch raiding in the Western fringe of the Lut
but in the majority of cases the Amnieh intercepted
the robbers and forced them to abandon their spoils.
It would not appear that this renewal of the former
activities has any real political significance.
55. {d) Aviation.—Three flights from Tehran to
Kerman of Junker’s planes, carrying passengers,
took place during the year under review. No im
provement has been made in the aerodrome to the
North-West of the town.
9. Social.
56. {a) Standard of Living. —The standard of
living, already low in Kerman, has become lower
on account of the slump in the carpet trade, a reduced
demand for labour of every kind and the high prices
prevailing everywhere.
57. (b) Unemployment. —Unemployment has un
doubtedly increased owing to the above mei^ioned
causes.
58. (c) Emigration. —There is no evidence of any
emigration from the Province, though there have
been instances of the inhabitants of one district
moving into another in search of work.
59. \d) Public Health and Hygiene. —In the month
of June the Health Officer received instructions
from Tehran to establish quarantine posts against
cholera which had appeared in Jallalabad (Afgha
nistan). He proceeded to Bam to see if any posts
could be established above Bam in the direction
of Persian Baluchistan and Sistan but returned
without doing anything. There was a few cases of
typhoid at Sarasiab, a village 3 miles to the west
of Kerman town early in the year ; otherwise the
general health of the town has been fair in spite of
the extreme poverty of the masses.
60. (e) Municipal Services. —In June the Munici-
pality Committee was formed in accordance with
the new regulations and set the task of finding new
sources of revenues to replace the previous grant
from the compounded road taxes fund. It is stated
that the new taxes, if carefully collected, will yield
from Ts. 40,000 to 50,000 per annum. The members
of the Committee, however, complain that, while
they are consulted in proposing and levying the
taxes, they have no say in their disposal. ^
In addition to the new taxes, a house tax of 3
per cent, calculated on the annual rent is to be levied
from the beginning of the next year.
This will be over and above the 5 per cent, collected
as “ Mustiqilat ” by the Finance Department on
houses rented. The whole income on this account
will, in future, go to swell the Municipality Chest.
61. The main artery road which was cut through
the middle of the town last year, involving the
demolition of some 100 houses, was improved during
the latter part of the year under the supervision
of an engineer from Tehran. Further houses had
to be demolished to straighten this road and an
allotment of Ts. 20,000 was sanctioned for the work
The Baladieh have not yet taken up the question
of improving the existing roads through or round the
town which are in a miserable condition, although
they have slightly improved the lighting of streets.
G. A. RICHARDSON,
His Britannic Majesty's Offg. Consul, Kerman.