Coll 28/117 ‘Persia. Kerman, Yezd – (Bandar Abbas): Intelligence Summaries.’ [‎6r] (12/517)

2
placed under his coimand go th/t there is so.ne uniformity of
■control to prevent as veil as suppress clistui'bamrsrh This seems
to be a sound view,.
There are further reports of robberies in outlying
villages in the Bandar ibbas district-
Be onoua ic C ond it io ns 0 There is little improvement in the wheat
situation which remains virtually the same as reported in the
last Summary* Kerman town was never actually without some
bread each da;/ but there were many days on which the supply was
both short and poor in quality* •* scheme which has proved
popular and should be a great help to the poorer people for whom
it is mainly intended, is the sale at selected shops of "ash 7 * * * 11 -
a cooked mixture of meat, wheat, rice (or other cereals) beans
and any other available vegetables, which is bein^ sold at 12
shahis a chorak(abc.ut lbs)* This with one bread will provide
a man with sufficient fooa for one day ••• at a cost of one rial^
two shahis 0
The first day "ash" was on sale as a trial 2000 people
were served and ss many more were turned aw?;/, TT ov sufficient
is made for 4-5000 persons daily* It ensures that a poor person
can fill his belly at low cost with nourishing food and should,
at the seme t imo ? reduce the demand on bread to some extent.,.
The only trouble is the middle class people find this "ash" is
so good they too want to buy it..
The sale of "ash" is the beginning of cheaper food
sponsored by the nsvl^ formed fherkat-i Kharbar (co-operative
society) the subscribed capital of which, lodged in the bank,
is nov.' over one million rials (para 6 wo.12) ttocks of other
foodstuffs such as beans (from Isfahan) rice (from llazanderan)
and roughan etc are being acquired preparatory to opening cheap
food shops *
Until the cheap food shops are opened, the cost of
living will remain at a. high level to fill the pockets of the
profiteers« There has been a slight fall in the price of rice
which is now rials 24 to 28 per man (6g lbs) against 2S to 32^
accoraing to quality a
In Yezd there is little improvement in food prices.
Here local officials talk a lot but do little*
Unsatisfactory reports about conditions in Bandar sbbas
are receiving attention# The acting list and ar will visit that
town in the near future to see conditions for himseli„
-fter considerable pressure by II.H’s Consul a three-
months sugar ration has been issued to the people of Kerman,
at the rate ox 1 ^ kilo per month# Figures extra.cted from the
local economic department revealed that as far back^ as six
weeks ago there were over 100 tons of sugar in stock but none
was issued until a few' days moo although further stocks had
been received in the meantime. BkH's Consul nas asked to be
supplied with figures of sugar stocks fortnightly in future
and" if he has anything to do with it the people will get their
monthly eugar ration on due date in future.
The acting Ustandar inspected the bazar a few aays ago
and ordered vendors to sell fruit cheaper- For some days
little fruit was brought into the bazar buu it is tnoug-t that
vendors will have to climb down over this commodity as it will
not keep.
Some people seeing: pictures ox
"V" sign with his fingers say it means
they should be given two breads a day 5
r r Churchill ^making the
Hr Churchill orders
the present ration is
one.
7 . Political Situa tion, The German advance in southern Russia
has had repercussions as was to be expected but the halt
ing of the Axis forces in Egypt has otiset this to some
extent© _ , . .
Kerman is particularly bad for rumours wr.icn spreaa
very quickly. Public broadcasting would eliminate much of
this but the rauio set sent from Tehran for Kerman is^stiil^
without the necessary transformer from D.C. to n-C. d.::- s K
Consul has now wireu to India for one a ,
There i 3 still a keen demand for the Consulate cany
news sheet in Persian and now tnat a duplicator nas been
/ received more