'Seistan' [‎326r] (653/782)

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during the summer at the capital of the province, which is within his official
area of jurisdiction, should be given a further trial. Colonel Wilson in 1895
and Colonel Meade in 1898 spent the summer months at Shiraz, but were
compelled to hire house accommodation at their own expense. If these visits
are made recurrent, we are inclined to think that, as no suitable house appears
to he open either to purchase or to rent, a site should be purchased and a house
erected thereon. To this suggestion also we will revert. Shiraz is a place of
considerable importance; and were it not for the great influence that has for
long been exercised there by the officials of the Indo-European Telegraph
Department, British interests must have suffered from the neglect to which
they have hitherto been exposed.
19. The districts lying to the east of Ispahan and Shiraz contain the
important cities and trade-centres of Yezd and Kerman, connected by one of
the principal postal and caravan tracks of Persia. Both of these towns and
districts lie south of the natural line of division between Northern and Southern
Persia; and in both British commercial and political influence has, in recent
years, been actively vindicated. In September 1893, Mr. Eergusson, the
Manager of the local branch of the Imperial Bank, was appointed unpaid Vice-
Consul at Yezd. Sir M. Durand now suggests that a Vice-Consul, if appointed
to Bunder Abbas, might pass his summer at Yezd, where it is no doubt intrinsi
cally desirable that British commercial interests should be represented by some
one not engaged in business or trade. We will for the moment reserve our
comments upon this suggestion. At Kerman, which is the capital of an
important province, and the seat of a Governor-General, the appointment of
a British Consul, which was first sanctionel under exceptional circumstances
in the case of Captain Sykes in 1891, has at frequent intervals since, the
latest being our despatch of August 10th, 1898, been the subject of discussion
between Her Majesty’s Government and the Government of India. The
present position is this, that for 5 years the Government of India have expressed
their willingness to contribute one-half of the cost of the Kerman Consulate up
to a limit of Bs 6,000 per annum.# The views of the Foreign Office upon
this proposal, which was communicated to it by Your Lordship on September
21st, 1898, have not yet been received by us. Sir M. Durand now proposes
that this Consulate should be made permanent, and that possibly a native
agent under its orders should be sent to Bampur. Before discussing these pro
posals, we think it advisable to analyse the larger issues raised by the questions
of Seistan and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
29. Concerning Seistan, its importance and the present position there, we
refer Your Lordship to a Minute which has been written by the Viceroy, who
has made a special study of the question, and which is enclosed with this
despatch. The facts enumerated by him are, we think, sufficient to show that
Seistan is, by reason of its geographical position in relation both to North
Khorasan, to Western Afghanistan, to British Baluchistan, and to the Persian
Gulf, a position of no small strategical importance. Seistan is the present
meeting point of the advanced pioneers of British and Russian influence.
Perhaps on the whole, owing to recent activity on our pait, the British position
and chances are the more hopeful. It is essential in the future, for reasons
which have been argued in the Viceroy’s Minute, that Seistan should be retained
in the British zone. It is fortunately not too late to secure that consummation.
The steps which should be taken with that object will be examined when we
formulate our final recommendations at the close of this despatch.
21. South of Seistan lies the still imperfectly known district of Persian
Baluchistan. Every year this province is being brought into closer contact
with British associations, partly from the visits of British officers, partly from
the wide-spreading influence exercised by the Nushki-Seistan Trade route,
still more from the close connections, political and racial, prevailing between
the inhabitants of the two sides of the Perso-Baluch border—a condition of
affairs which is likely to be confirmed by the inevitable increase of British
influence in the dominions of the Khan of Kalat.