Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎222r] (443/644)

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III.—Internal Situation.
General Comments.
239. Every year’s events go to prove that the Government is the Shah.
there is scarcely any opportunity for direct observation of fj 118 . all-impor an -
personage, except when he goes on tour. In March he toured Khuzistan, Bus ire,
Shiraz and Isfahan, ancl, as usual, his calculated changes of demeanour
corresponded with views, with which he was already primed, of the local si ua ion.
At Ahwaz he was in a genial humour directly related to the favour enjoye y
General Mu’iny, the military commander, and, though he criticised the navy and
the Customs, he praised the army and the railway. At Shiraz on the contrary,
he was in an evil humour, and markedly ignored both persons and things o w ic
he might reasonably have been expected to attend. The reason is not so clear,
but the silence of his reception at Bushire, and reports that certain citizens
intended to petition him with complaints against the Governments, i.e. ms,
economic policy, may have combined to put him out of temper; or it may nave
been a foretaste of^his intentions towards the Governor-General and military
commander, who were later in the year dismissed with great ignominy, tor ttieir
conspicuously corrupt practices.
240. There is no foretelling what the autocrat will do. At Bushire the
populace had been so dragooned by the authorities about what they were tor bid den
to do during the Royal visit, that few turned out to receive him. On learning
the reason, he ordered that the people should be allowed to come outa nd greet
their ruler. Yet when he passed on to Shiraz, he drove past the assembled crowd
at high speed, and apparently paid no attention to them for the whole ot his stay
Secondly, no foreign residents or officials were anywhere asked to appear except
at Ahwaz, where the general manager and a senior member of the Anglo-Iraman
Oil Comp an v, and the manager of the Imperial Bank of Iran, were invited, given
places of honour, and singled out for his conversation; but he went near none ot
the oil company’s areas. Thirdly, the incidence of the mourning month ot
Muharram was given as a reason for suppressing many triumphal arches that
had been planned, and in some cases erected: he avoided being in Ahwaz on his
birthday, and held only a small reception at No t ot ^, of n wl \ lc ^ occuri p ed
during the tour. But he chose the 10th Muharram, the Shiah s Good Friday, for
his departure from Khuzistan. He may have been turning anything to account
to impress the lesson that business comes before feasting or mourning Or he
may have wished to prevent Royal visits from inflicting useless expenditure on
the townspeople; if so, this was unfortunately robbed of its purpose by the fact
that the local officials had already made their exactions before the orders were
given.
241 The Valiahd accompanied him, but though his father was seen to draw
his attention to many points of interest, no opportunity was given to the people
of really seeing their future ruler, nor was he allowed to make any new contacts
Indeed the Crown Prince is in general kept from forming any associations that
might become political, and evidence is lacking of his initiation into any weighty
affairs of state. But the life of the Palace is too hidden from outside gaze for
conclusion to be formed.
242 The two princesses (see paragraph 250 of the annual report for 1936)
were married to the elder son of the Prime Minister, M. Jam, and the elder son
of Qawam-el-Mulk, respectively.
243 In Mav His Imperial Majesty visited his estates in Mazanderan, and
in November he attended the Turcoman races It has been noticed that these
visits to Mazanderan are apt to coincide with sharp bouts of secret police activity.
Towards the end of May there were rumours of many arrests and some executions.
There appear to have been two affairs : one an army plot to take the Shah s life,
for which four officers are said to have been executed; the other a student move
ment alleged to be of a type too self-assertive to be tolerated by a police State, and
connected with a technical school until recently under a German head. No officia
mention of these was allowed to transpire. At about the same period a prominent
landowner owning a valuable library and properties m Khorassan and close to
the Shah’s'summer palace, disappeared into confinement.
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