Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎45r] (90/1237)

retched Vac pitca wtore he will bav« to start a party ana a newspaper
ot hie own. A similar telegram was sent later by a number of landlords
and mullahs.
i'here ara rumours, too, that harmony within the Jemocrstic Party
itself is not complete. One or two M 01d Liberals" suoh as Aghazadeh,
^ircxig and bhulam hussein Parshi, are; complaiiiing that tha leader,
Piahavari, is too subservient to the Russians. Farahi, indeed, ie
reported to t^ive resigned i*rom the party.
y jl5. ^rugh a. (See Diary tfo. lb, para 189). Xhere haa been little
news from Maragha recently, and all appears to be quiet there. An
indication of the economic bases of Rabi’i Kabiri’s putsch has been
given by a local resident! according to him Kabiri, last winter, paid
2,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. to iteftdi Dadvar, Governoi*—General of the Third Uatan, for
the place of Paraandar (Governor) of ^aragha. Dadvar found himeelf un
able to give value for money, and £351*i therefore secured his
right* via the Xudeh-Democr&tic Party*
216 . JOj^iu^ruiui Rewb . There has been more news of Russian purchases
than for some time. Dried fruit is the commodity most in demands in
the secou weelc in October the Govfct Trade Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. bought 12 t lOdfcpoods
of raisins at Rls. H 2 to 120 per pood ol 17 Rilogrammes, lor delivery
at Eezsieh. L^ter they were said to have bought 30 wagon loads of
dried apricots in Tabriz and to be seeking to purchase 30 mo re • They
have also shown an interest in goat skins, with the result that the
price has jumped from about His* lb to Rls. 40 per piece. There have
been purchases of mutton on the hoof by the Ru&aians from the Bukan
and usq.jlz districts.
Rot much selling oy the Ru&aiane has been reported lately.
One instance of Soviet control of private trade in this province
hat come to light in the last fortnightt Hajji Hasten Ahoyilar, a
merchant of Tabriz, made a bargain with a French interest in Tehran for
the ©ale of ab ut one million tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. worth of Azerbaijan wcnl, but as
soon as the Soviet authorities heard Jf it they forbade the despatch
on the ^roandt that they themselves needed it. The seller was told
to sort the wool and bale it and a Sovfut buyer wruld come and make an
offdr for it. It is a method of keeping down prices of oummodities
useful to the Russians which has been practised in the past in the case
of dried fruits. Merchants still complain th&t it is almost impossible
to get a permit for the export of dried fruits through Bazergan.
Carpet*, however, seem to be passed without difficulty.
The brie v*«t easiness in Tabriz is still being done in carpets
ana prices remain high. Taerc seems also to be an increasing demand
for shvi'P casings from Tehran for export to America, and prices are
rising slightly.
Retail prices over the last month show little change. Sugar is
down ©lightly after the distribution of ration* for the month* of
Mojx.ad &nd Bhahrivar (duly 22nd. - September 2‘ nd.), and the Russian*
have had difficulty la finding buyers for 50 tons they have put on the
market. Latest ratal! prices are i loaf sugar - Hie. 57, and soft
sugar - His. 53 per kilo*
Xh<& demand for dollar© and sterling in the bazaar continues. The
latest free market quotation* area Tferling, HI*# 140; dollar. His. 67#
217. LaucjdLl nan.. ..ox Iran . Tabriz police having been baffled by the
theft of two milli: h rials in note© belonging to the Imperial Banc
early in October, the criminal inveatigati a experts from Tehran have
been called in# These too do not seem to have got much forrader. The
notes weiv despatched to Kermanshah by registered post, packed in
boxes and gunny and sealed by the bank at Tabriz. A difference in
wdght we* noticeo in the Kazvin Hofit Office when the boxes were weighed
there, but this was reported by letter and meanwhile the boxes had
reached K^rm&nehah where tik.y were f vund to contain only waste paper.
Oou*iderii% the ti&e that would be necessary to open, repack and reseal
the boxes, the Tabriz manager strongly suspects that the job was done
in Tabriz post office. The thieves re-sealed the boxes with wax
similar to the Bank’s and imitated the impression of the Bank’s seal
with a five rial silver piece, which beers the same effigy of a lion
ana suns but the Impression also betrayed the legend "Five Rials".
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