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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
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
[ 9 I
inasmuch as it would not he a line of connection between important centres of
population industry or arms, but would, so to speak, end in the air. If it
stopped at the Anglo-1 ersian border, it -would still he 90 miles distant from
Nasirabad, the capital of Seistan.. Ihe chances of prolongation to the latter
would appear to be problematical in view of the engagements against the intro
duction id railways, which lersia has allowed to be imposed upon her by Russia
The question of the military protection of the line, if constructed, is one upon
which expert opinion would be required to pronounce; although, in the yearly
increasing tranquillity of the districts which it would traverse, I do not conceive
that any serious difficulty would thereby be caused.
30. The Government of India have in the accompanying despatch suggest
ed the desirability of coming to an understanding with Hussia concerning
spheres of interest in Persia, which would leave Seistan within the British zone
In such a case there might be no necessity, at any rate for the present, for a
Quetta-Scistan railway. We could then devote ourselves to the diligent promo
tion of the resuscitated caravan route, and look forward to the day, when, the
Helmand being in oui hands, we might convert Seistan into a flourishiD fj> out
post on the flanks of British India, that would call for railway connection with
the lines and resources of the interior.
31. Even in the event of such an understanding being declared impracti
cable, while I hold firmly to the opinion that we should then be bound to adopt
such measures for the protection of Southern Persia and of our interests in that
quarter as we might deem desirable, and while I concur with Lord Salisbury
in thinking that a Quetta-Seistan railway might be found to be one of these, I
am. yet in favour of consolidating our position in the interim, of fostering the
incipient trade, of acquiring further information about the tracts to be
traversed, and of familiarising the Perso-Baluch border lands, and Seistan in
particular, with our presence and influence, before we decide upon such a
forward move. It would at any time be a comparatively easy task to connect
Quetta by railroad with Nushki (90 miles); and such an extension would
afford no inconsiderable relief to the Persian caravans, who now have to proceed
with their camels to Quetta, where there is no camel-grazing and, where the
prices for fodder are high, instead of returning at once, after a few days’ rest,
from Nushki. But I should like to see Nushki also developed, as I believe it is
likely to be, by an interval of settled British administration, and by the
measures which I am recommending in connection with the trade route, before
I advocate even this advance. In a few years’ time we shall be in a better
position to pronounce upon ideas, the execution of which would for the present
be somewhat in the nature of an experiment.
September 4th, 1899. CUBZON of KEDLESTON.
Foreign Office'Presa— No.’9G5—15*9-99—54.
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' [349r] (699/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721606.0x000066> [accessed 23 June 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