Notes Prepared for Reference during Curzon’s Tour of the Persian Gulf, and Other Papers on Persia and the Persian Gulf [‎321r] (641/678)

[This Document is the Property of Her Britannic Majesty's Government.]
NO. 7, PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY.
ASIA. [November 18.]
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 1.
2418
No. 1.
Sir M. Durand to the Marquess of Salisbury .—(Received November 18.)
(No. 92.)
My Lord, Tehran, October 26, 1895.
I HAVE the honour to forward to your Lordship herewith a summary of frontier
news for the month ending the 30th September, 1895.
I have, &c.
(Signed) H. M. DUE AND.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Summary of Frontier Neivs.
Kuchan. —It is reported that, in spite of the embargo, grain is still being exported
from Kuchan to Askabad in large quantities, and that prices have risen there in
consequence.
Pul-i-Khatun. —Thirty Cossacks arrived from Sarakhs on the 19th September and
left for Sheikh Juneid on. the following day. All the Cossacks belonging to the Pul-i-
Khatun garrison who had gone to Sarakhs have returned.
Sarakhs. —Mr. Elias reports that Sartip Mirza Husain Khan, who has been rein
stated as Karguzar of Persian Sarakhs, called upon him before leaving to resume his
duties. He said that the new canal opened by the Persian Governor for carrying
water from the dividing point above Bund-i-Kizilkaya, near Dowletabad, being too
shallow and narrow, very little water would reach Persian Sarakhs between the middle
of May and middle of February of each year, when all other canals, except the one
mentioned, have to be closed according to the Protocol of the late Eusso-Persian
Sarakhs Boundary Commission, Thus the Persians will have # to depend chiefly on
wells for their water supply, as they will not even receive one-sixth of the water to
which they are entitled according to the recent agreement, and the improvement of
Persian Sarakhs, to which the Shah seems to attach so much importance, is very
doubtful. The greater part of the money intended for the work appears to have been
appropriated by the Governor.
Samarcand, September 16.—About 200 iron rails, together with a large quantity
of telegraph wire, were received by train to-day.
September 17.—The work on the Tashkand railway line is progressing, but the line
has not yet reached Afrasiab.
Meshed. —On the evening of the 30th September the Nusrat-ul-Mulk (the Timuri
Chief and Commander-in-chief of Khorassan) was enticed by the Governor-General to
the Ark under the pretence of being required to join a conference. The conference
appears to have taken place, but on leaving the Govern or-General’s room the Nusrat-
ul-Mulk was made prisoner by the Fawashes and other servants of the Ark, was very
roughly handled, and robbed of all he had about him. He was then put into his
carriage, together with the Governor of Turbat-i-Haidari (one Shahzada Hasan Khan),
who had also been arrested, and the two, chained together, were driven oft under a
strong guard towards Tehran.
The reason given for this sudden arrest of the Nusrat-ul-Mulk is that he and his
followers were responsible for several disturbances that have taken place in the town
lately, but this is only a pretence. The real reason is that the Nusrat-ul-Mulk, since
his return from Tehran, has only partially submitted to the Governor-General’s
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