Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎56r] (112/669)

members of the Commission supervising the distribution ofj th^-
seed to Court. discretion, however, unhappily sunervenad. and
Hedyatullah received the balance of his seed without hsving to
uiake any extra payment.
V . Loc al_ _Pol i t i c_s.
(21) m he promotion of 0 artip "arrobi to the 'Ihorramatad command
and the appointment of °artio dumayun to the Khuzistan command
are locally interpreted as triumphs for fipahdod Chahba’chti,
whose alleged anti-British and anti-Arab policy both officers
are supposed to have carried on faithfully, if discreetly.
(Compare para 3 of Ahwaz Diary for the 1st to 15th July 194o)
It seems however that of recent months fartip Zarrabi has thought
it wiser to cooperate with us and to follow our more moderate
Arab policy. ^he same fear of the revival of the nhahbakhoi
regime is seen in gloomy forecasts for the successor to t
present Governor-General who is popularly supposed to ie aiomt
to be replaced: Sartip Ta.jbakhsh, who was at first the strongest
Candidate, has now been replaced in popular favour by Garlashkar
iJu’ini; no authority is claimed for either forecast, &ut coth
are symptomatic of popular hopes and fears.
(22) Ahwaz is reported t« have ac%Ui.red the reputation t>f ceing
the most profitable town in Persia for begrars and since the
beginning of the cold weather has suiiered a remarkable invasion.
By the beginning of December the iiercantile coirununit./ under one
Kommeli had collected Dials 70,000 and had established a poor-
h«u*je capable of housing 270 persons: the institution was to
be maintained by ordinary subscriptions and a ‘voluntary' levy
•f Rials 50 on every truck-load of goods leaving f«r Tehran.
Hie iJlajesty’s Consul-General had inspected the institution with
a view to discovering .if it was a suitable object for he_p from
the Anglo-Iranian Pel^f ihind and was informed by the Governor-
General that he (Divanbegi) had the personal authority of the
Ohah to expand the institution. Colonel Alborz, Commissioner of
Police for Khuzistan, and Agha Nasseri, the local Deputy to the
Majlis, frankly express the greatest anxiety that the standard
should be kept out of the scheme cn the grounds th&t ios aim is
to succour the p®or rather than enrich the already rirb. Agha
Nasseri, v^ho contemplates an institution outside the rewn ad
ministered by a body containing allied representative? and
capable of housing at a cost of Rials 20,#00 a month aJ. the
indigent of the town, also claims to have a written authority
from r "ehran t® go ahead with his scheme.
(23) With reference to para 5 of Ahwaz Diary for 15th _ .o 30
th November, the Hezb-i-Azadegan’s first attempt at eiuiating
public opinion appears to have miscarried. Various stuients
were apparently asked to collect copies of the classi.-a_ poets
and religious commentaries for destruction. The matter was
brought to the notice of the Police who, with .the assistance of
the Director of Education, put a st®p to this policy.
VI. Tribal.
(24) With reference to para 6 of Ahwaz Diary fer 1st ~o 15th
December, it is reported that Abdullah 'Chan Zarghampur. in
addition to surrendering a machine-gun, has sent his step
brother to Behbahan as a security for his good behaviour. 25
(25) With reference to para 6 of Ahwaz Diary of 15th ro 30th
September, Farajullah Khan produced with some pride tc riis
x/Iajesty's Vice Consul a letter from Sartip Zarrabi bidding
Parajullah to Ahwaz with all speed to discuss taking over the
bakhshdari of Janiki. Sartip Zarrabi was engaged with his
Marshall at the time of the interview and i s far as is known
left for Khorramabad without seeing Parajullah. 'arajullchf s
failure to control the Behmai faction who are apoosed to his
brother-in-law is apparently encouraging him to seek co reestablish