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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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NOTES ON PERSIAN SEISTAN,
administration.
Previous reports on the province of Seistan have described fully the
system of administration at present in force, and these notes therefore are
confined to a general description of the cultivation of wheat and barley,
which, together with cattle and sheep rearing, is practically the sole occupation
of the inhabitants, and which is the source of the wealth of the province.
A statement showing the revenue paid by the Hashmat-ul-Mulk to the
Shah for the province of Seistan, or the basis upon which the revenue is
calculated, would give no truer indication of the amount actually paid by the
former to the latter, than would a detailed account of the shares of the crops
obtained by the Katkhudas and the workmen and cultivators, represent
the actual amount received by these different classes. The whole adrninis-
tration is run on the system universal throughout Persia, that each individual
should extract as much as possible from the man next below him, with the
additional disadvantage that everything in the country is the absolute property
of the Shah.
As regards the revenue paid by the Hashmat-ul-Mulk to the Shah, I
was informed by the Belgian Director of Customs, M. Maurice, that he had
been called upon last Naoroz to furnish a statement of all the various pro
ducts of the country, with a view to its being known at Tehran to what
extent the Amir could be squeezed before he was compelled to relinquish the
Governorship of the province.
The extractions are of course passed on by the Amir to the Katkhudas,
and by the latter to the cultivators, who are the largest losers.
Instead of showing therefore an exact statement of the shares of the various
officials, and the cultivators, an account is given of the general manner in which
the operation of “ Kerman Kashi ” or “ the division of the harvest ” is conduoted.
The shares of the different officials and classes, with the exception of that
of the Governor, vary slightly in different districts, but as far as possible
a general average has been taken.
Besides the share of the harvest, which is paid to the Local Government,
the chief source of revenue is the tax upon animals, which is alluded to in
another part of this report.
SYSTEM OF CULTIVATION IN SEISTAN, AND METHOD OF “DIVISION
OF THE HARVEST.”
The cultivation in Seistan suffers greatly owing to the system in force,
which limits the tenure of land to one year, both for the Katkhuda and for
the small cultivator, and which allows no one to become the possessor of the
freehold of the land.
The necessary result is that efforts on the part of either of these classes,
whether to better fertilise the land, inaugurate improvements in house-build*
ing, or plant trees either for fruit bearing or fot fuel, only entail the payment
of a larger amount of “ Shirini ”, in proportion to the extent of the
improvements made, in order to remain in possession of their property the
following year.
Should he be unable to find the necessary ready money, the tenant is
ejected and sees the fruits of his labours enjoyed by a new comer, who has
been able to pay the necessary bribe to acquire the village or land.
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' [219r] (437/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721605.0x000028> [accessed 5 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