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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
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1
t
Diaries.
D. No. 516 ’F.
Diary No. 11 of Major G. Chenevix-Trench, Her Britannic Majesty’s
Consul for Seistan, from 1st to 15th August 1900.
1st August —I had a conversation with Seth Suleiman upon the pos
sibility of introducing Indian sugar to compete with the French loaf sugar now
universally used in Seistan, and, I believe, generally in the Southern portions of
Persia. 1 had great hopes that Indian sugar could compete in price, at least in
Seistan. From figures given me by Seth S aeiman I find that Indian sugar can
be landed in Seistan from the Rosa Sugarworks at Rs. 22-8 per Indian maund
while the retail price of French sugar in Seistan is the same. In other words
the Indian sugar^ could not be sold at a remunerative price in competition with
French sugar. 1 he Indian sugar bears a much higher reputation for sweetness
than any other sugar.
Seth Suleiman is not prepared to venture in this line, though the Rosa Sugar-
works are prepared to offer him a 10 per cent, commission, by no means a small
profit in itself.
He has written to the Rosa Sugarworks asking whether they wmuld be pre
pared to allow a 15 per cent, commission on sales, in which case he w’ould order
from them.
I should like to see Indian sugar compete with French sugar, and if a railway
in the future lands it at the Indian border at Robat, it will command the market
in Seistan and Birjand. Beyond that it will probably not compete with Russian
sugar which is sold at a very low rate in the Northern provinces of Persia.
A criminal accused of robbery and murder was by the order of the Hash-
mut-ul-Mulk blown from a gun in the presence of the people. The Russian
Consulate subordinates remarked that the Amir showed very marked independence
in carrying out this capital punishment without the sanction of his Government.
Any signs of independence on the part of the Hashmut-ul-Mulk are not looked
on with favour by them, who attribute his conduct to moral support from the
English.
Mr. Miller remarked to me in conversation that the Novoe Vryma news
paper was always addressed to him from Petersburgh in English. They evident
ly he said consider Seistan a British province !
5th August. —Mr. Miller who always complains of the apathy and short
comings of the Russian trader remarked that trade reports such as Captain
White had written from Meshed, to the effect that Russian traders adapted their
supply to demand did a great deal of harm to Russian trade.
He said all such reports were eagerly read in Russia and the Russian
merchant prone already to consider that his enterprize needed no development
plumes himself on such remarks and is more apathetic than ever. As an ex
ample of Russian apathy, he said he had ordered 200 bottles of sodawater and
lemonade, at his own expense and for private consumption. The Russian
trader in Ashkabad refused to comply with the order on the plea that the distance
to Seistan was too great, and the trouble of packing and despatchino- was not
worth taking for so small an order.
6th August .—I heard from Colonel Temple that he agreed to the temporary
exchange of places between Hospital Assistant Abbas Ali, from Seistan to
Birjand, and of Ghulam Jelani from Birjand to Seistan. Hospital Assistant
Abbas Ali receives very much higher pay than Hospital Assistant Ghulam Jelani,
besides an entertainment allowance of Rs. 50 a month. With these emoluments, he
is more in a position to take his place as a sole representative than Hospital
Assistant Ghulam Jelani is, who receives no entertainment allowance. Abbas Ali
has great power in exercising his influence over the Persians, and with the fair
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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'Seistan' [100r] (199/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000002> [accessed 16 July 2026]
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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