File 1749/1921 ‘Persian Gulf:- Residency news summaries 1921-25’ [‎141r] (296/494)

CONFIDENTIAL.
r
p
4283
Confidential Summary of News received by His Majesty’s Polifical Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in fhe
Persian Qulf for the month of July 1922.
PERSIA.
Mohammerah. »
Lnfortunately His Excellency the Shaikh of Mohammerah has been unavoid- } (
ably. prevented from proceeding to Mohammerah and fulfilling his promise to J
dismiss Shaikh Abdul Majid, who is therefore still Deputy Governor. He con- i \
tinues to give a great deal of trouble to the Consulate, and when recentlv at
the request of the Resident His Excellency the Shaikh instructed him to release
Khalil, a Bahraini, whom he had imprisoned most unjustly and without any re
ference to the Consulate, he denied all knowledge of the man, and it was only after
His Excellency the Shaikh had sent him a very stiff letter by the hand of Khan
Bahadur Mirza Muhammad, C.I.E., that the man was produced and set free.
..^ n . ar ^ c ^ e h as appeared in the c Asr-i-Azadi ’ of Shiraz attacking Shaikh Abdul
Majid indirectly. Mention is made of the atrocities practised towards the public
and how the people are robbed of their money in broad daylight and in the public
thoroughfares by the Shaikh’s ghulams.
On the arrival of S. S. Ahmedi ’ ’ at Mohammerah at the beginning of the
month, the Customs authorities on receiving information that the ship had on
boanl a very large amount of krans from Kuwait for Basrah, boarded the ship
and demanded that the specie should be delivered to the Persian Customs. The
Captain (rightly) refused to comply with this demand, and the Customs authori
ties had to retire unsuccessful in their efforts to confiscate the specie. They tele
graphed to Tehran reporting the matter.
New passport restrictions between Basrah and Mohammerah were brought into
force on the 20th July by the Iraq authorities, and all persons travelling between
these two places have now to be in possession of a passport issued or endorsed by the
Iraq authorities. These restrictions have caused great inconvenience to the public
and hamper business relations between the two ports, and already the ferry traffic
is greatly reduced. The Persian authorities are very annoyed and threaten to
retaliate by the introduction of similar measures, which they declare have been
instituted by the Iraq Government for the sole purpose of making money.
Ahwaz — (10th June — 22nd July).
His Excellency the Shaikh of Mohammerah has paid, at the request of the
Revenue Department, a sum of about Ts. 7,000 which represents his -revenue to
date for this year.
Captain C. Wallis arrived from Dizful on the 14th June to take over from
Mr. Fitzpatrick, who proceeded on tour to the Oil Fields, Bakhtiari and Isfahan on
the 15th June.
Dizful — {10th June — 22nd July).
The condition of the town and district with the exception of a few small rob
beries has been satisfactory.
fhe Governor-General held a meeting of the landowners to constitute a scheme
for the rebuilding of the Dizful bridge and dam. A document was signed and sealed
asking the Central Government to allot Ts. 30,000 for this purpose, any
aiance to be found by the landowners. The benefits of this dam would be very
great but it would cost a full Ts. 50,000 and there is little chance of the project
materialising.
At the beginning of July a gang of 50 masons and coolies A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. left for Dalpori which
^CiiSFD^ ^ L)ehluran area of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s workings.
ENC. in INDIA FOREIGN
! SECRETARY’S NO 72M J
PA TEE OCT 5 .