'Report of Khan Bahadur Maula Bakhsh, Attaché to the Agent to the Governor General of India and Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General for Khurasan and Sistan, on His Journey from Meshed to Quetta via Turbat-i-Haidari, Kain, Sistan, Kuh-i-Malik Siah and Nushki (7th April to 28th July 1898)' [‎44r] (92/156)

ON HIS JOURNEY FROM^MESHED TO QUETTA, 1898.
65
Sultan Mir Muhammad Husain, the Deputy Governor’s right hand man
and practically Pishkar at present, was an exception to the other obstructive
subordinates. He is in great favour with the Deputy Governor (Sartip Mir
Ma’sum Khdn) and was very useful to me in influencing him (the Deputy
Governor) to give in to my just demands.
(k) It may not be out of place to mention here that though the Persian
c hv authorities are bound to try their best to
Establishment of the practice of payment by i , , ^ ,
Governors of Kain and sistAn of compensation for recover and restore to the owners property
property stolen from British subjects. stolen in Persian territory from foreign
subjects, yet, as far as I know, there is no clause in any of the existing
treaties and engagements of Persia with the different foreign powers binding
Persia to pay compensation for stolen property that may not be traced or
recovered. However both the Russian and British Consulates-General at
Meshed have in many cases succeeded in recovering compensation from the
local Persian authorities for property stolen from their subjects, and I am glad
to have been able to establish that principle in Kain and Sistan also. Both
the Governors of K&in and Sistan have, in their correspondence with me
acknowledged that they are liable to make good the property of British subjects
stolen in their territories, in case they should fail to recover and restore the
same. Therefore in the event of any thefts or robberies being committed on
caravans of British subjects in Kain or Sistan in future, it should be easy to
enforce the principle in question and to insist upon the payment of compensa
tion for any stolen property that might not be recovered, on the ground of
that course having become an established practice in Khurasan and Sistan
which ought to be binding on the local Persian authorities.
84. Pdinda Khan of Dera Ghazi Khan, who has just arrived from Quetta
Attitude* of the gub-oontractor of customs towards with merchandise for Meshed, having
caravans passing through sistan. brought to my notice that the new sub
contractor of customs for Sistan had levied customs duty on his consignment
and "iven him a receipt without mentioning any amount in it, I sent for the
sub*contractor of customs and called upon him for an explanation of his reasons
for this procedure, inviting his attention to the fact that the terms of his agree
ment forbade him to have anything to do with consignments for Meshed.
The sub contractor said he had been led to believe that the consignment in
question was for Herat or Bukhara, and that it would not pass through Meshed
and he apologized for the omission of the amount in the receipt.
He was willing to refund the amount of the duty he had taken and to let
Painda Khan pay it at Meshed, if the latter were to return his receipt; but
Painda Khan having already sent the receipt on to Meshed by one of his camel-
men was unable to produce it. Therefore the sub-contractor gave him another
receipt showing the amount levied by him which, he said, he would account
for to the chief farmer of customs at Meshed.
The sub-contractor asked me what guarantee there would be against
goods declared by a caravan to be consigned to Meshed, being marched off to
Herat or Bukhara without going to Meshed which would result in a loss to
him of the customs duties that he was entitled to in case the goods should pass
on to Afghanistan or another foreign territory direct from Sistan.
I told him that in case of such smuggling being attempted his remedy
would be easy. All that was necessary for him to do was to take from the
men accompanying the different consignments written declarations with full
particulars of the goods and the names of the consignors and the consignees
and to send them on to the chief contractor of customs for Khurasan and
Sistan who, in the event of the goods not turning up at Meshed, could take
the necessary measures to recover the amounts due from the firms concerned
through Her Majesty’s Consulate-General.
The sub'COntractor eventually agreed not to interfere with or levy any
duty on goods consigned to Meshed from Quetta provided the camelmen,
carriers or owners accompanying them should be able to produce official passes
specifying the consignments intended for Meshed, which, he suggested, might
be granted to them by the Baluchistan Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. or the Political Assistant,
Chaghi district, in order to enable him to pass the papers on to Meshed where
the 5 per cent, ad valorem duty would have to be paid.