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The record is made up of 1 file (388 folios). It was created in 17 Jan 1899-4 Apr 1904. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
From
C. E. PITMAN, Esq., C.I.E.,
Director General of Telegraphs t
To
The SECRETARY to the GOVERNMENT of INDIA,
Public Works Department.
Simla, the nth August i8gg.
Sir,
With reference to your letter No. 598-C. W. T., dated the 22nd of
October 1898, I have the honour to report that Mr. H. A. Armstrong, Assistant
Superintendent of Telegraphs, Class VI, grade 2nd, was instructed to examine
the country between Quetta and the Persian frontier and report on the possibility
and cost of erecting a line of telegraph from Quetta to Ladis and Koh-i-Malik
Siah.
2. Mr. Armstrong in company with Lieutenant Webb Ware left Quetta on
the 20th November 1898 and returned on the 17th March 1899, and I now for
ward 35 copies of his very useful and interesting report which, for the sake of
convenience, is divided into the following sections :—
(I) Quetta to Amir Chah ...
(II) Amir Chah to Ladis
(III) Amir Chah to Koh-i-Malik Siah
(IV) Ladis to Koh-i-Malik Siah
359 Miles
85
116
7b
A line of telegraph from Quetta to Koh-i-Malik Siah md Amir Chah and
Ladis would be 520 miles long j while the length of a line taken to Ladis
Amir Chah and Koh-i-Malik Siah would be 551 miles long; and that of a line
to Koh-i-Malik Siah vid Amir Chah would be 475 miles.
Section (/).—Quetta to Amir Chah 359 miles, country open, stony and
sandy as a rule, sparse population and cultivation, water
scarce and often bad, no supplies except near Nushki, heat
intense in summer, several miles of sand-hills to be crossed.
Trade very slight.
Section (//).—Amir Chah to Ladis 85 miles, country pretty much the same
as in section I.
There is no recognized track. Heavy sand-hills are passed
through for 7 miles, water very scarce and bad and
not met with for 43 miles in one place. No supplies.
Country a desert.
Section {IIP ).—Amir Chah to Koh-i-Malik Siah 116 miles, country as above
only worse, some 9 miles of sand-hills to be crossed some
of which are from 40 to 200 feet high.
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to Seistan [Sistan] and Persia [Iran].
The file includes printed copies of despatches from the Agent to the Governor-General of India and HM Consul-General for Khorasan and Seistan (Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Martindale Temple), to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, with enclosed despatches from Captain Percy Molesworth Sykes to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (the Marquis of Salisbury). Skyes’s despatches regard matters including: Seistan; trade routes into South-East Persia; the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan, in relation to the River Helmund [Helmand] changing its course (in despatch No. 5, which includes four sketch maps, folios 12, 13, 14 and 15); Sykes’s journey to Birjand (in despatch No. 7, which includes a sketch map on folio 20); the ruling family of Kain, which also governed Seistan, Tabbas and Tun; Sykes’s journey from Seistan to Kerman [Kirman] (in despatch No. 11, which includes a sketch map); and the direct Kerman-Quetta caravan trade that Sykes was trying to establish.
The file also includes copies of the following papers:
- A despatch from Temple to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing a letter from Temple to Sir Henry Mortimer Durand (HM Minister, Tehran), with copies of enclosures, regarding the establishment of a Seistan and Kain consulate
- A letter from Charles Edward Pitman, Director General of Telegraphs, to the Secretary to the Government of India Public Works Department, enclosing a copy of a ‘Report on the Preliminary Survey of the Route for a Telegraph Line from Quetta to the Persian Frontier’ by H A Armstrong, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Telegraph Department, which includes six photographs of views along the route [Mss Eur F111/352, f 52; Mss Eur F111/352, f 53; Mss Eur F111/352, f 54; Mss Eur F111/352, f 55; Mss Eur F111/352, f 56; and Mss Eur F111/352, f 57], and a map showing the proposed route of the telegraph line [Mss Eur F111/352, f 59]
- Letters from Hugh Shakespear Barnes, Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan, to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing copies of the diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the weeks ending 16 February, 28 February, and 8 March 1900
- Diary No. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 of Major-General George Frederick Chenevix-Trench, HM Consul for Seistan (Diary No. 6 includes a sketch map, folio 86)
- A copy of a ‘Report on Reconnaissances Made while Attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission’ by W A Johns, Deputy Consulting Engineer for Railways, Bombay
- A copy of the report ‘Notes on Persian Seistan’, compiled by Captain Edward Abadie Plunkett, and issued by the Government of India Intelligence Branch, Quarter-Master General’s Department
- Two copies of map signed by Plunkett titled ‘Persian Seistan-Cultivated Area’ [Mss Eur F111/352, f 270]
- A booklet entitled ‘Notes on the Leading Notables, Officials, Merchants, and Clergy of Khorasan, Seistan, Kain, and Kerman.’
- Printed copies of letters from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), relating to the maintenance of British interests in Persia, dated 4 September 1899 and 7 November 1901 (the former with an enclosure of a minute by the Viceroy on Seistan).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (388 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 390; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 301A
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/352
- Title
- 'Seistan'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:51v, 58r:58v, 60r:112r, 113r:125v, 147r:218r, 218r, 219r:269v, 271r:301v, 301Ar, 301Av, 302r:388v, 389v:390r, 389r, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence