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'Seistan' [‎278r] (555/782)

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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. .

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1
(Received informally from the Tehran Legation on 4 th Apj'il 1904 .)
Roads in Persia in 1903.
Russian concessions.
1 . Reribazar to Tehran vi& Uesht .—This road is resrularly worked by a
Russian Company. The section between Reskt and Sefid Ketele was during
the autumn in a very bad state being for several weeks impassible for carriages
or wagons. Travellers were obliged to ride and so deep was the mud in some
places, especially after Kudum, that they had to leave the main road and ride
through tracks made in the jungle. Large gangs of men have been working
at the road and it is now better. Between Sefid Ketele and Kasvin the road
is good. Onwards from Kasvin to the capital it is also in a fair condition.
The rest-houses are rather better than formerly but are still dirty and the
supplies obtainable indifferent and expensive. The road from Resht to Kasim
(opposite Enzeli) has now been transferred from the Concessionaires (Salar
Afkham and Nasr-es-Sultaneh) to the Road Company for a sum of 30,000
roubles.
2 Kosvin to Julfa via TWmz.—His Majesty’s Consul-General at Tabriz
has reported the arrival of Russian engineers at that town. Work will begin
this spring, 1904 , both at Julfa and at Tabriz. The road has been surveyed
as far as Zenjan.
3 . Kasvin to Hamdan .—This road has been surveyed but no work has yet
been done. It is stated on fairly good authority that work will begin in the
spring of 190 T as soon as the snow has melted.
Persian Road Concessions.
1. Astara to Ardebil .—This road is being worked by the Persian
Amoumia Company.
2 . Meshed to Askabad .—This road is worked partly by the Russians and
partly by the Persians. It is stated to be in fairly good order.
Persian Road Concessions still valid but not yet worked.
1 . Tehran to Caspian Sea via Chains.
2 . Tehran to Mazandaran.^lSo direction specified.
3 . The Shemran tramway.
Road Concessions in which Great Britain is interested.
1. The Isfahan-Almaz Road known as the Bakhtiari road. This road has
been travelled over during 1903 by Colonel Douglas, Major Burton and
Mr. Parry, Messrs. Lynch’s agent at Ahwaz. Mr. Parry reports that the
whole of the road from Alvanieh to Isfahan has fallen into a more or
less bad state and requires thorough repairing, the worst places being as
follows Jam Hill, Ala Khorshid, Malamir Hill, the descent from Kulleh
Madressa to Dodsi-i-Balulak, Maulwari Hill, Osten-i-Polenj and one place
between Dopolum and Ardel. The bridges, Mr. Parry states, are in good
order but want repainting and some slight repairs. Mr. Parry is of opinion
that the indifferent state of the road is owing to the Bakhtiari Khans having
failed to carry out the terms of their agreement. Sir A. Hardinge, in a letter
addressed to the Bakhtiari Khans early in November, referred to Mr. Parry’s
complaints and advised them to repair the road at the points specified. The
Chiefs state that this has now been done. Colonel Douglas is of opinion that
the real, when he passed over it, was good as a mule track but in want of repair
The Bakhtiari Khans asked that His Majesty’s Government should compei

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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
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'Seistan' [‎278r] (555/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721605.0x00009e> [accessed 8 July 2026]

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