Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [278v] (556/644)
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.
2
failed to carry unaided the burden which it has been called to shoulder in the
economic, financial, military and other spheres, and in order to carry out
efficiently our vital war responsibilities here, we and our Allies were
forced into a considerable measure of interference in many branches of
the Persian Administration, which we should naturally have preferred to avoid.
Further, as the success of our war effort depends to such an extent on caln^^
and stability throughout the country, that measure of interference which haqi^
taken shape in 1942 was necessarily developed and extended in the year under
review. For instance, the complete inability of the Persian Government to
maintain order in large areas of the south, which will be dealt with more fully
in another section of this despatch, compelled us at one time to provide military
protection for convoys on the Bushire—Shiraz—Isfahan road, whilst later the
presence of Germans with the Qashgai tribes, which constituted a potential
danger of sabotage to the Trans-Iranian railway and the oilfields, called for
similar intervention, for lawlessness and insecurity could not fail to affect our
vital interests. At the end of the year a measure of peace has been restored
and that was our principal immediate consideration. Again, under war
conditions the outcome of the general elections could not be without interest to
us. Consular officers were accordingly instructed to encourage and support those
elements that appeared to be honest and animated by public spirit.
3. Generally speaking, our policy in the economic field was to concentrate
on increasing our contribution to the welfare of the Persian people to the greatest
extent consistent with the carriage of the necessary supplies to Russia. The
principal element in the promotion of their welfare could only be internal
reform, which we encouraged to the best of our ability, and the reorganisation
of the provision and the distribution of essential goods. Consequently, when
Dr. Millspaugh arrived in Persia in February as Administrator-General of
Finances, in order to cope with the chaotic financial situation, and pressed for
wide powers to control prices, reorganise the system of taxation and balance
the budget, &c., he had our fullest backing in all his measures. Similarly, every
occasion was taken by us to support the American advisers in other branches
of the Administration in the hope that their labours might bring some benefit
to the departments concerned.- Throughout the year cereals, transport and civil
supplies presented serious problems. There again, all our efforts were directed
towards alleviating distress as far as the general war situation would permit
The full quota of wheat was imported under our Food Agreement of 1942;
British Consuls and Consular Liaison Officers continued to work at high pressure
in the provinces to ensure the collection of the Government- share of the grain
crop; and at the close of the year the British army averted a shortage of wheat
in Tehran by transporting some 10,000 tons of wheat from Kermanshah and
Hamadan to railhead. An Allied Road Transport Board was set up and Lease-
Lend lorries were supplied, and in this way a semblance of organisation was
introduced into the civil transport system. In addition, steps were taken to
increase the supply of consumer goods, particularly from India, and to allocate
additional tonnage for civil supplies on the Trans-Iranian railway. On the
financial side the" acute shortage of currency notes was eased by the arrival of
considerable consignments from the United Kingdom. The Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company, too, assisted Dr. Millspaugh by making advances to the Persian
Government on the oil royalties payable in 1943/44.
4. All the measures which we and our American Allies took to alleviate
the lot of the poorer classes and to establish some order in the corrupt and
antiquated machine of Government aroused the most bitter opposition from
Persian vested interests both in the Majlis and elsewhere. Unfortunately,
gratitude is a quality which is lacking in the Persian make-up. Economic
distress was almost invariably ascribed to British inefficiency and machiavellian
intentions. This campaign undoubtedly had a deplorable effect on our
popularity and it unfortunately acquired some show of justifkyition when, at
the beginning of the year, owing to the unforeseen interruption of the rail
traffic and other causes for which the British were not responsible, Tehran was
threatened with a serious shortage of oil. The public had naturally been greatly
influenced by the fulminations of the press at our expense, which for long periods
were allowed to continue their campaigns unchecked by the Government.
These attacks might have become even more violent if it had not been for our
victories in the various theatres of war. Fortunately, towards the end of the
year with Persia’s declaration of war on Germany and her adherence to the
United Nations, and the issue of the Tehran Declaration, the position returned to
normal and there was little to complain of in the attitude of the press. It was
at times rather galling that Soviet Russia, having done little or nothing to help
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