Reports and Correspondence Relating to Persia, Including Trade and Trade Routes in Persia [‎104r] (207/252)

hour. Before leaving, he asked me to ask the Karguzar to authorize him to grant
us permission to build. This I did. But the Karguzar refused to give anything
in writing to the Amir. Thus, while both the Amir and the Karguzar have
admitted to me our right to build shops for British traders in Seistan, neither is
willing to take the responsibility of granting us a formal permisiion in writing to
do so.
Meanwhile our building has continued without intermission. Messrs. Tek
Chand’s new shop in Trenchabad only requires a roof to complete it. Mahomad
Hayat occupies a good hired house in the city and the question of the return of
the purchase money to Seth Suleiman has been dropped and will not, I hope,
be brought up again. Thus has another of Mr. Miller’s schemes been thwarted.
It is a fair specimen of the system of diplomatic intrigue which he practises
here. The successive steps by which he hoped first to break up our friendship
with the Amir, then through the Karguzar to obtain from us documents deroga
tory to the Amir, and finally with these in his possession to bring about the down
fall of the Amir himself, were as subtle as they were unscrupulous.
There still remains the question of our ri^ht to purchase the land w'e are
occupying and the limits within which we may build. It is a question which will
continue to crop up and which will provide Mr. Miller with a fertile means of
annoying us as long as he feels that he and his Government can interfere to
influence the Persian Government in defining those limits for us. Mr. Miller has
been busy of late in collecting the revenue and Customs statistics of Seistan.
It may be possible that his Government may have some ulterior motives in
view with regard to Seistan. In this connection I would invite a reference to the
last few paragraphs of Major Trench’s diary for the period ist to 15th March
1901, and would urge the serious consideration of the question raised therein :
ist May. —Nil.
2nd May .— Owing to the indisposition of Mr. Miller the Russian Vice-Con
sulate party were unable to dine with me this evening.
3rd May —I called on Mr. Miller this morning. He is still confined to his
bed and seemed in very low spirits. He hoped to undergo an operation in a few
days. I offered Mr. Miller the services of Hospital Assistant Abbas Ali should
he require assistance.
4th May .—As mentioned above, I had a private interview with the Amir
Hashmat-ul-Mulk this morning.
2. Mons. Spinella, the representative of the Belgian Customs Department,
arrived here this afternoon from Birjand. He is staying in the Russian Vice-
Consulate. I had sent out a letter by special messenger to meet him to invite
him to stay with me. Unfortunately the letter missed him and he naturally went
to the Russian Consulate.
3th May. —Mons. Spinella came to call on me this evening. In the course
of conversation he said that he always endeavoured to maintain an impartial
attitude towards the rival powers in Persia; but that in whichever direction he
saw trade preponderating in that direction it was politic to be more friendly.
Trade, he said, was their bread and butter, and it would be short-sighted to
obstruct its development.
6th May .—I paid a return visit on Mons. Spinella. After my call he paid
an official visit on the Amir Hashmat-ul-Mulk.
2. I had a second private interview with the Amir in the evening (see
above).
yth May .—The late Customs representative here, Mirza Mahomad Hussain,
was, together with four other Customs subordinates, thrown into chains this
morning and imprisoned in his own house by order of Mons. Spinella. The
charge against the Mirza is that he has defrauded the Persian Government of
4,000 tumans.