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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.
ENCLOSURES.
Eoreign Office to
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.
.
Foreign Office.
Sir> 7tli March 1900.
With reference to your letter of the 23rd of January last, 1 arn
directed by the Marquess of Salisbury to transmit to you, to be laid
before the Secretary of State for India, a copy of a letter from the
Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company, in which they
represent the insufficiency of the grant of one thousand pounds (1,000/.)
recently made to them for the present year, and renew their original
request for a fixed subvention of two thousand pounds (2,000/.) a year
for a further period of five years.
Lord Salisbury will be obliged if Lord George Hamilton will favour
him with any observations he may have to offer on this letter at his
early convenience.
I am, &c.,
The Under Secretary of State T. H. Sanderson.
for India.
Sub-Enclosure 1.
Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company to the
Foreign Office.
3, Salters’ Hall Court, London, E.C.,
Si rj 2nd March 1900.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 1st ultimo, on the subject of the subsidy hitherto granted by
Government towards the maintenance of the Karun Service, intimating
that Her Majesty’s Government and the Government of India have
decided to grant in equal shares a sum of 1,000/. towards any deficit
that may appear during the present year on the working of the
service.
While requesting you to express to Government their thanks for this
grant, my Board desire to point out that a great part of the sum
partially "covered by the grant has already been anticipated and placed
bevond their control.
With regard to the amount of the grant and the terms upon which it
is made, my Directors have grave doubts whether they are justified in
continuing" the enterprise unless they can satisfy the shareholders that
the Government will continue to give such needful support in the
future as they have in the past, whilst the trade and communications
are in process of development.
1. Apart from the losses which have been incurred by running the
steamers, a net sum of 13,460/. in 10 years, there has been large outlay
in the construction of the road from Ahwaz to Ispahan, a distance of
270 miles, crossing two rivers where substantial iron bridges have
been provided, one having been built and the other being in course of
construction. This road, which has been made by Messrs. Lynch
without taking any remuneration whatever for their services, and from
which any profits will accrue solely to the Bakhtiari, may, it is hoped,
serve the double purpose of feeding the traffic of the steamers and
developing British trade and influence in Southern Persia, but nothing
has been asked from Government towards this most useful work.
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' [379r] (759/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721606.0x0000a2> [accessed 29 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