!['Seistan' [‎95r] (189/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0207.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎95r] (189/782)")
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
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' '
He had also, he said, been asked to obtain statistic of trade here, which wa s
quite impossible in a country like Persia. He often comes over to me and
enjoys our sports and likes having a meal and a talk.
July Some Seistani traders came to get a letter to help them on the
Nushki road. They said they were collecting 400 camels of Seistan produce to
take to India.
Seth Suleiman came to ask my advice as he said the Russian Vice-Consul
had asked him to sell some Russian goods on commission which Mr. Miller
would get from Moscow. When next I saw Mr. Miller I laughed at his proposal
and said that it would not be trade unless the goods were able to hold their own,
in which case Seth Suleiman would himself get Russian goods just as he
does German or French. I pointed out that there was already one man
who sold Russian cotton cloth. Mr. Miller was not aware of this man, who in
fact does but little trade in that line here. Ihe question of making Seth
Suleiman a Russian Agent dropped after that. I thought the method of getting
a footing for Russian goods a clumsy one and a sure sign of the hopeless view Mr.
Miller took of ever seeing any Russian trade here.
July 3rd. —Mr. Miller came over in the evening and after speaking about
Seth Suleiman and his Russian goods told me that a Russian Doctor would
come here in the double capacity of doctor and chancellor; but that as there were
arguments going on about his pay, it was not likely he would be here until
next April!
I repeated in the evening the gymkhana experiment. I had one tent
pitched, in which Mr. Miller and I sat and witnessed donkey races for the Seistani
boys, tent pegging, wrestling on horse back and tugs of war. There were several
hundred Seistanis and most of the local minor officials who sat on carpets and
were entertained by
Munshi
A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf.
Ahmad Din.
The Seistanis entered with great spirit into the fun. They learned to clap
for applause and enjoyed the tent pegging very much. A team then pulled the
sowars at a tug of war, and though they did not win, showed great pluck. There
was immense excitement and every one was very pleased. Mr. Miller was
forcibly struck, I think, at the crowd.
I heard that Mr. Miller intended sending some Seistanis to buy goods in
Askabad for sale here. The Seistanis are very much against the Russian form
of encouraging trade by giving bounty or indulgences. They say it spoils the
trade tor the majority. My informants said they knew sugar to sell in Askabad
at 7 karans and in Meshed at 3, so that people bought up the sugar in Meshed
for 3 karans and smuggled it back to Askabad to sell it at 7. I do not think
that Mr. Miller will seriously think of taking this course. Mr. Miller has besides
often told me that the Russian Government has given up pampering their traders
by bounties and rewards, finding it demoralized the trader and resulted in no
good.
July 5M.—Mr. Miller dined and told me that the pay of the newly appoint
ed Russian Consul-General in Bombay was ^ 1,500 a year, which he said was
too small. He further said that all ranks in the Consulate service were paid
according to their Consular grade and regardless of where they were serving.
He said he drew the same pay here as if he was Vice-Consul at Barcelona, and
that his Government had no idea of the expense of living in an out-of-the-way
place like Seistan, where everything of civilisation had to be imported.
July 6th .— Returned the visit of the Intizam-i-Diwan and paid a visit to
the Sarbang Muhammad Raza Khan.
July yth. —A caravan from Quetta arrived bringing indigo for Meshed.
There was some difficuliy about the customs, but it was amicably arranged as
the customs concession in Persia is now being newly brought into force in Seistan.
I have added some remarks under head of general remarks on the subject.
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