Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎88r] (175/644)

75
Railway Finance.
490. According to a publication in the local press of the 24th June,
the total revenue collected by means of the Sugar and Tea Monopoly Tax
since its inception (the 30th May, 1925), up to the 20th March, 1933,
amounted to 579,841,090 rials. Expenditure amounted to 402,967,786 rials, of
^ which 366,420,732 rials for administration and construction of the North
to South Railway. The balance in hand on the 21st March, 1933, was therefore
176,873,304 rials!
491. On the 24th April the Majlis discussed a Bill authorising a credit
of 30 million rials to cover expenses on the railway during the two months ended
the 21st May, 1933, and expenses on the cement factory An East India Company trading post. during the year 1312
(ending the 20th March, 1934).
492. The Majlis passed on the 8th June a Bill authorising the Ministry of
Finance to hold at the disposal of the Ministry of Roads and Communications
the sum of 115 million rials for railway construction, and 60 million rials to
pay for the balance due for the 600 Idiom, of rails and accessories purchased
from the Soviets.
493. A further credit of 10 million rials was voted on the 9th July for the
exploitation of the metalled sections of the railway during the last ten months
of 1312, as well as for the installation of a plant in Mazanderan for tarring
wooden sleepers.
494. A Bill was passed on the 1st October authorising the Ministry of
Finance to credit the Sugar and Tea Monopoly Fund with the receipts obtained
from the exploitation of the metalled sections of the railway. No details of these
receipts are as yet available, and it is impossible to gauge to what extent the
Sugar and Tea Monopoly Fund has benefited from the exploitation of the
railway. His Majesty’s consul at Ahwaz, however, reported that the income of
the Railway Exploitation Department for the month ending the 21st November
last was said to be 700,000 rials, exclusive of payment for the transport of rails,
cement, &c., from Bandar Shahpur to Salehabad by the Kampsax Consortium.
The bulk of the freight is undoubtedly made up of the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company’s products, and so may be of a regular nature. On this basis, the
income (presumably gross) of the southern section would be some 6,300,000 rials
for the nine months ending the 21st December. The complete lack of any details
regarding the northern section, and the meagre information from the south,
make it impossible to hazard more than a very rough guess as to the state of the
railway fund at the end of the year.
495. Information from a reliable source gives the amount paid out to
contractors up to the end of 1933 as 72 million rials, presumably out of the credit
opened on the 8th June of 115 million rials. If one may presume, perhaps
optimistically, on the Sugar and Tea Monopoly Tax providing the usual income
amounting to about 100 million rials per annum, the position at the end of 1933
may be somewhat as follows :—
In 1,000 In 1,000
rials. rials.
Balance at March 31, 1933 176,873 Expenditure from credit
Sugar and tea tax for nine of June 8 ... ... 72,000
months ... ... ... 75,000 Credit of April 24 ... 30,000
Exploitation, south, nine Credit for rails and acces-
months 6,300 sories 60,000
Exploitation, north, rough Credit for exploitation ... 10,000
estimate 3,000 Balance available ... ... 89,173
261,173 261,173
496. From the balance available there should presumably be deducted the
sum of £150,000, which, according to the Iran of the 7th November, the Budget
Commission decided to authorise the Ministry of Finance to hold at the disposal
of the Ministry of Roads and Communications, out of the Sugar and Tea
Monopoly revenues, for the purchase of railway trucks and locomotives.