'Report on the Development of the Baluch-Persian Caravan Route and on the Nushki, Chagai and Western Sinjerani Districts, for the year 1899-1900' [‎10v] (20/64)

REPORT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BALUCH-PERSIAN CARAVAN ROUTE AND
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29. Cultivation at Mirjawa has quadrupled in the course of the year. The security which
the neighbouring levy post at Saindak affords is primarily accoun a e or is. .
30. Lastly the colony of Mamasani Baluch, who have settled at Duzdap, are industriously
eno-acred adding to the number of the karezes which they opened there last autumn. la i-
eipate that the Duzdap cultivation will shortly more than suffice to meet the requirements
grain and forage, of the Killa Robat Thana. Writing with the experience of three years, I
say without hesitation that, provided the necessary funds are forthcoining, karezes cou
opened at, or near, almost every individual stage on the caravan road between Nushkiand
Killa Kobat. As I have pointed out elsewhere in this report, it is quite an enoi, altho ig
is a popular one, to suppose that the country west of Nushki is a barren, trackless, sandy
desert/ I admit that the Chagai District contains large stretches of waste lands which are
nearly akin to a desert; but the desert, in the sense the term is usually understood to convey,
is only to be found south of the Helmand river and north of the Koh-i-Sultan and Chagai
Sarlat ranges of mountains, that is to say, at a distance far removed from the alignment which
the caravan road now follows. The question of increasing the cultivation along the caravan
road is one which has a direct bearing on the further development of the trade route, and is
therefore one which I would respectfully venture to submit for the serious attention of
Government.
31. In my previous reports I have had cause to refer to the very real disadvantage
which Persian trade through Nushki labours under in there being no building in Quetta
where Krayakashes can unload their camels and where traders can live while they are
selling their goods and making their purchases. The representations which I made last year
on this subject were favourably received by the Local Government, and in January 1900
a portion of the Quetta Levy lines was set apart for the use of caravans. Traders have
not availed themselves of the concession made them to any great extent, and the reason of this
is simple. The concession, extended to traders, has neither removed, nor modified, the causes
which operated in previous years to compel caravans to camp outside Municipal limits in the
rain and snow of a Quetta winter. 1 naturally refer to the Quetta Bazar octroi
regulations,! whose petty restrictions are much resented as they hamper trade greatly. . To
overcome this difficulty all that is necessary is to build a caravan-serait without municipal
limits near the Quetta Railway Station, and pending its erection to treat the Levy lines
as a bonded warehouse.§ The measure 1 suggest is the only remedial one which can be
applied to the present situation. I would submit that to defer the erection of a caravan
serai cannot but have an injurious effect on trade, as the following incident shows. Before
I left Seistan, a deputation, headed by Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Purdil Khan Sarbandi, waited on me and, on
behalf of the trading community of Seistan, earnestly begged my assistance in regard to
two matters. The first matter to which my attention was drawn was the difficulty traders
experience in obtaining in Quetta anything like a fair exchange rate for the Persian kran,
a question which is dealt with in paragraph 7 of this appendix. The second matter had
reference to the restrictions which Seistanis trading to Quetta are subjected to,. the question
I am now discussing. The interests of trade through Quetta render it, in my opinion,
essential that a caravan-serai containing living and godown accommodation be built on a
suitable site near the Quetta Railway Station and placed in charge of a smart capable native,
whose duties would be to protect traders from being cheated by unscrupulous persons, to
afford them assistance in purchasing and disposing of their goods, and to help pilgrims on
their way through Quetta.
32. In my last year’s administration report I referred to the importance I attached to
settling an energetic native merchant in Seistan, and I stated that I had arranged with the
Shiah Muhammadan firm of Muhammad Ali Brothers of Quetta, to open a branch of their
business at Nasrutabad, adding that 1 had reason to suppose that this new departure in trade
with Seistan would not only be attended with success but would also have far-reaching
results.
Muhammad Ali Brothers’ representative reached Nasrafabad, the capital of Seistan, in
January, with a consignment of goods to the value of Rs. 18,000, and started business. I am
pleased to be able to say that the success which has attended the firm’s transactions in Seistan
has justified the opinion I ventured to express in my last year’s report.|| I have impressed on
Muhammad Ali Brothers that, if they wish to keep the field to themselves and to extend their
operations, they must be content with a small margin of profit, and the firm, who appear
fully alive to their own interests, assure me that my advice will be implicitly followed.
33. I would here note, as evidencing the activity of the Russians in a part of Persia
which lies well without their legitimate sphere of influence, that Muhammad Ali Brothers’ * * * §
* Vide paragraph 25, Appendix II, of my report for the year 1897-98, and paragraph 88, Appendix II, of my
report for 1898-99.
+ Vide paragraph 87, Appendix II, of my Administration Report for the year 1898-99.
J 1 am of opinion that the cost of erecting this serai should be borne for obvious reasons by the Quetta
Municipality.
§ I press for the erection of a caravan-serai as I have no hesitation in saying that even if the Levy lines are
treated as a bonded warehouse very few Persian traders wiil ever enter the Quetta Bazar so long as the present
irksome octroi regulations are in force.
|| In 3J months Muhammad Ali Brothers ha ve sold goods to the value of Rs. 11,000.