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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [44r] (87/644)
The record is made up of 1 file (320 folios). It was created in 6 Dec 1933-27 Mar 1947. It was written in English and French. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
85
h 2
[8706]
VII.— Opium.
479. The illicit shipment of 1,500 cases, referred to in paragraph 378 of
last year’s report, did not materialise, the report that it had been effected having
^roved incorrect. The total exports for 1931, therefore, only amounted to
3,674 cases, as compared with 5,686 cases during the previous year, whereas
Haji Amin had undertaken when the export monopoly was granted to him in
October 1930 to ship no less than 6,500 cases a year—or in any case to pay the
Government taxes on that amount. In 1932 there was a further sensational drop
in exports to 1,775 cases (see table below).
480. In February His Majesty’s Legation learnt that Messrs. Ziegler and
Co. of Manchester had been approached as early as October 1931 by a repre
sentative of the Persian Minister of Finance, who wished to know whether they
would take over the monopoly. This implied buying 6,000 cases from the Persian
Government a year. Messrs. Ziegler replied that they could not do so as it would
involve trading in contraband opium, but they might consider the purchase of
2,000 cases a year. In January 1932 Taqizadeh suggested that if
Messrs. Ziegler were averse to a 100 per cent, monopoly they might be willing to
undertake a monopoly of legitimate exports only, guaranteeing the Government
an offtake of 2,500 cases and a tax payment of £83 per case as heretofore.
Messrs. Ziegler, however, after going into the matter, realised that they could not
possibly guarantee an annual purchase, as there appeared to be no important
legitimate buyers of Persian opium in the market: consumption had been greatly
reduced owing to the world crisis, and there was also a growing tendency for
importing countries to go to Turkey and Serbia for their requirements, owing to
the far higher price of Persian opium, weighted as it was by excessive taxation.
In fact a case of Anatolian opium (less favoured by the smoker, it is true) could
be had for approximately the same amount as the Persian Government so short
sightedly exacted in taxes alone.
481. During the course of these negotiations the Persian Minister of
Finance put forward the suggestion that, the world’s legitimate need of Persian
opium having been met by exports of 2,500 cases, all the League need do, were it
intent on putting an end to the contraband trade in Persian opium, would be to
pay the Persian Government £83 a case on another 3,000 cases annually, which
could be destroyed under the League’s supervision. The Persian Government
would be satisfied with the revenue accruing from these two operations plus the
proceeds of the banderole tax on opium prepared for local consumption.
482. It is not known whether Taqizadeh was quite so ingenuous as to expect
the League to give such an undertaking irrespective of the size of the yearly crop,
but the 1932 season has shown that it may on occasion shrink to very modest
proportions as the result, not of official restriction, but of climatic and market
conditions. Although it was reported excellent in Khorassan, the estimate in
Pars was one-third of the normal, and the aggregate output for the year has been
assessed at not more than 2,000 cases. This news delighted Haji Amin and his
associates, as they argued that they could not be expected under such conditions
to continue to pay the export duty on 6,500 cases as arranged (in spite of their
accumulated stocks). On the other hand the grower was the more anxious that
his small output should find a market at a greatly enhanced price, and the outcry
was all the louder and denunciations of the monopoly all the more bitter when
it refrained from buying any part of the new crop. About the end of August,
when it was reported to have 6,000 cases on its hands, the monopoly ceased even
to manufacture. On the 18th October the Tehran press reported that the con
cession had been cancelled by mutual agreement, Haji Amin being obviously only
too glad to rid himself of his responsibilities, while the Government had long since
been forced to admit that the monopoly, like many of its other economic ventures,
had proved an abysmal failure.
About this item
- Content
Annual reports for Persia [Iran] produced by staff at the British Legation in Tehran. The reports were sent to the Foreign Office by HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. at Tehran (from 1943, Ambassador to Iran). The reports cover the following years: 1932 (ff 2-50); 1933 (ff 51-98); 1934 (ff 99-128); 1935 (ff 129-165); 1936 (ff 166-195); 1937 (ff 196-227); 1938 (ff 228-249); 1939 (ff 250-251); 1940 (ff 252-257); 1941 (ff 258-266); 1942 (ff 267-277); 1943 (ff 278-289); 1944 (ff 290-306); 1945 (ff 307-317); 1946 (ff 318-320).
The reports for 1932 to 1938 are comprehensive in nature (each containing their own table of contents), and cover: an introductory statement on affairs in Persia, with a focus on the Shah’s programme of modernisation across the country; an overview of foreign relations between Persia and other nations, including with the United Kingdom, British India, and Iraq; Persia’s involvement in international conventions and agreements, for example the League of Nations and the Slave Traffic Convention; British interests in or associated with Persia, including Bahrain and Bahrainis resident in Persia, the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. at Bushire, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Imperial Bank of Persia, and the Imperial and International Communications Company; political affairs in Persia, including court and officials, majlis, tribes and security; economic affairs in Persia (government finances and budgets, trade, industry, agriculture, opium production); communications (aviation, railways, roads); consular matters; military matters (army, navy, air force).
Reports from 1939 to 1946 are briefer in nature, Reports from 1941 onwards focusing on the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Persia, and the role of United States advisors in the Persian Government’s administration.
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 (320 folios)
- Arrangement
The file’s reports are arranged in chronological order from the front to the rear of the file. Each report for the years 1932-1938 begins with a table of contents referring to that report’s own printed pagination sequence.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 321; 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.
The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 308A
Pagination: Each of the reports included in the file has its own printed pagination system, commencing at 1 on the first page of the report.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/3472A
- Title
- Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:91r, 92r:308v, 308ar:308av, 309r:320v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence