Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎28r] (55/644)

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International Communications Company throughout the year in conjunction with
their cable stations at those two places. The wireless telegraphy station at Lingah
was used for service messages only, an Indo-European Telegraphs Department
operator being left in charge.
302. The Persian Government showed considerable interest in these stations
dgring the year. At the end of 1931 they had asked whether they might take
t^m over in advance of a treaty settlement, and in January the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs were told privately that this was impossible. Later they asked
for detailed information regarding the stations, and this was supplied. In
September the Director of Telegraphs at Tehran asked the telegraph authorities
at Karachi direct whether he might operate the unused Lingah station pending
a settlement, but was told that this request should be preferred through the
diplomatic channel.
303. His Majesty’s Minister expressed the opinion in September that
though the Persian Government would be unlikely to put difficulties in the way
of the importation by the Imperial and International Communications Company
of spare parts necessary for the upkeep of the Bushire and Hen jam stations, a
request for such facilities, which were not directly covered by the Telegraphs
Agreement, might lead to a demand for the surrender of the stations v/ithout
further delay, and, failing this, for this disuse pending a settlement.
(H) Claims.
General.
304. The mild successes recorded in the annual report for 1931 were not
repeated in 1932, no single outstanding claim being settled. The great majority,
it is true, remained in cold storage, but four of them, those of the Government of
India for the expenses of certain quarantine officers lent to the Persian Govern
ment in 1925, of the Persian Railway Syndicate, of the Persian Transport
Company and of Mr. Richards for the non-exploitation of his forests in
Mazanderan, were brought to the notice of the Persian Government.
305. At the end of the year the dossiers of all outstanding claims were being
sorted and listed in order to be sent to the Foreign Office for expert examination.
It was suspected that many of the claims would prove invalid in international law.
Persian Railway Syndicate.
306. The Persian Government declared in the course of correspondence that
they did not recognise this claim because the options from which it arose had
never been ratified by the Majlis. This argument had been used orally in the
past, but never before put forward officially. It is quite untenable, as no Majlis
was in existence at any of the material dates. A vigorous representation in this
sense was under consideration at the end of the year.
Richards Forest Claim.
307. This enormous claim, which has for years been one of the banes of
life at His Majesty’s Legation, was re-examined by the Foreign Office in the
light of fresh evidence and found to be devoid of any legal basis. Mr. Richards
was accordingly informed that it could no longer be supported.
Commutation of Pensions.
308. A Bill that may give rise to “ claims ” in the future was passed in
May; it provided for the compulsory surrender of all pensions in return for a
lump sum payment of four times the annual value of the pension, and gave until
March 1935 for applications to be made. The annual payments apparently
stopped with effect from the passage of the Bill, but the Persian Government
took no steps to inform British pensioners that this was so until the autumn,
when the latter, puzzled at the non-payment of the usual instalments, began to
make enquiries through His Majesty’s Legation. The only British subjects
known to be affected were the Hon. L. H. Lindley and Lady Houtum-Schindler.
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