Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎69r] (138/669)

lit* Persian Officials
(18) . Shazadeh do’ezi (compare para 27 of the last Ahwaz diary)
left hurriedly for Tehran on 2nd February,
(19) The Governor-General visited Dizful on 8 th and returned
Ofl 9th February.
(£o) The Director of Agriculture accompanied by the locust
Officer for Ustan VI left for Shushtar and Dizful on llth
February.
IY. Economic .
(2L) With reference to para 22 of the last Ahwaz diar;, the
Gcvernor-General discovered on 4th February that the Director
of Agriculture had issued orders cancelling the remainder of the
ttur of the peripatetic seed v/heat commission. The Di?ector
alleged that the results to date showed that sowings bcth
generally and in individual cases were more extensive :haft
vould have been possible had cultivators relied on government
seed alone and that the commission could not therefor*, ascertain
the fate of the government^ seed. The Governor-General is
reported to have been extremely annoyed that ,f his commission”
sJlould have been cancelled without reference to him ai 3 to have
insisted that the tour should continue in order to as/ertain
ihe probable wheat surplus.
• • • •
,22) V/ith reference to para 21 of the last Ahwaz diar.S meeting
itoorramabad's demands left the Finance Department unab.e to
issue seed to some sheikhs who had made payments in ad;ance
unofficial as welj. as official) for their wheat. Nin:- tons
cf undistributed seed from Shushtar and some surplus airley
from llaraidiyeh is reported to have been issued to the sheikhs
cn the intervention of Colonel Homayoun. The fate of ieed issued
«o long after the time for sbwing is hardly a matter e-en for
ipeculation, but in some cases arabs are reported to have
borrowed seed in the expectation of getting the Goverrment seed
vOr v/hich they have paid and are under the necessity to return
*hat they have borrowed.
•
,23) V/ith reference to para 25 of the last Ahwaz diar/,
attempts to control the rise of prices have so far beet
ibortive. The Governor-General had very properly daciied thhfc
ihe first step was to obtain accurate information abou:
existing stocks of commodities. Me accordingly directed all
dealers to submit returns of their stocks by the 12*,h cf February,
ir. default of which* their establishments would be closed. The
»frchants replied that although they had stocks the r were
merely acting as forwarding agents for individuals In -he north
frnd failed to submit the required returns. One prominent
merchant was discovered in an attempt to send sugar rerth by
^oad but by 12th February the timelimit had expired with so
Jl^tle progress made thr.t the Governor-General felt himself
unable to carry out his threat of closing the shores cf
defaulters and gave another 15 days time for them to *cmply
¥ith his orders. The municipality's committee for the control of
successfully postponed action as i result of
.he unavoidable absence” of th^ Chairman (himself a rrominent
^erchant). This seems to have been an unnecessary ma^oex-Vre
no attempt has been made to enforce the prices niblished
^t the committee s postponed meeting. Sugar has accordingly
fisen to Rials 75 per kilo and tea to Rials 105 per half kilo
>24) .The tirne-lag that •ccurs in Persian administration
between the inception of measures in the capital and :heir
Jxe'bution in the provinces has been illustrated in Anti-hoarding
depirtment' s attempt to check the number of hands tnrough which
commodities pass between the import and the consumer.
/Instructions