Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎263r] (528/1237)

Julia hallwa y. It la balag aaid lootilly th t the
Persian Govern®eat ere no* unwilling to take over hia railway a*
the tree*; is in a deplorable condition and they cannot accept either
the r^aponslbility of operation or the expense* of upkeep, Much
rolling etock and other equipment le stated to have v?*ttiahed.
ZJlM&&J*Q™rrmvnt ejosPUal, The strike «t thia hoanitnl h» s
nrw lasted for several week®, tne erruac being the delay in payreat
^ etr,ff eal^rifoe. It ha® now oo»e to the notice of Dr. I lllspaugh
v^o has dencadfad an laaediete report.
j^ugft..r F actory . There ere etill stock® of about 2,100
tons of suigcr at this factory An East India Company trading post. . Tfel® season’s su^«r beet cron is
•tited to be very poor owin^? to insufficient rain.
^ovi^t Con^terolftl ^ctiviti e®. The Soviet labaaay recently
denied report® that tbs Soviet authorities were orevantin*? the export
of dried fruits fro® A*erbaijan. This denial is misleading. T fhat
the » ovi&t authorities insist on before the export of these and var
ious other products is the issue of permits by both the Boviet
Consulate-General and the Military 0o randant in ' sbrlss . it is only
in special c sea that both arc obtainable, so that in reality the
export prohibition la still in force.
Shortly before ftaaaaaa the Fuseinns sold dO tons of sugar
at 110 rials per kilo. *he price has since dropped sharply m& they
are unable to dispose of several other wagon-loads w'ioh they are
offering at the sen© price. In the same way they find themselves
hulcing rge quantities of uns^laahl® piece-goods. A merchant who
about n month ago bought a largo quantity from them at hl 8# 7G per
metre is now faced with a loss of over 50,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. .
'•^3. w>;::;.erciul News . The local manager or the National Bank
fore*«es e ®eriou® crisis in Tabriz business circles if the war in
Europe end® within thusr next two months. If ;.t lasts longer he thinks
tk^t there ar© gr« ter chances of gradual adjustment, but it rill
still »ean the bankruptcy of many merchants, particularly those who
have emerged during, the inflationary period. There are others
however who will weather the storm. He anticipates that the fall of
prices will be of a permanent nature and points to the foot that
th<*re f*re still about eighteen months supplies of sugar, piece goods
and other oo® odities in Tabriz, so that there is no question of
scarcity. He also thinks th*t retell prices will shortly begin to
follow new wholesale quotations, which *re for the moment mainly
nominal, there bains- no buyers or sellers for any quantity of goods.
Hews of a commercial crisis in Tehran is causing much
anxiety here. Sugar is being offered at ^ls.75 per kilo without
buyers. uinine which previously oo t 1,800 tomsna a kilo is being
offered at 800, again without buyer®. Black dye which cost 20,000
toman® per barrel is now being quoted at 5-d,000. Most marchant®,
bi$ and small, have been holding stocks for speculative purpoeec and
there is an atmosphere of general apprcheasloa.
Only small quantities of dried aprlcciot® have as yet
re ched the market and futvire prices of dried fruits »re not* yet
prediotebl®. They will largely depend on (e) the price of sugar,
(b) th© extent of the ‘hidden demand snd(e) whether export is to
rem«la virtueliy i possible.
iv^cu^Uon, of ^m^rloiup Air j^orc*. Personnel fro ?5 oviet Upl on.
#t -° American officers have arrived iii Tabriz to arrangel?*or the
reception of In^rge numbers of 41? Force personnel with their
equipment who are expected to begin arriving from Julfa in s day or
two. The complete evacuation by Tabriz is Planned to b© completed
in about thirty day®. It had apparently been cringed with the
Dus®lens in Tehran that the former British Consular oar park should
be placed at the disposal of the American®, but the loo^l fovl^t
Authorities do not appear to ir v« received sufficiently clear inetruo-
tioa® and the reception arrangements® at the aso^eat of writing are
still in tftfc air. It sw%y or may not be a coincidence that the f
Russian® only started using thi» car-park «t the time w*an it we®
being Screed in Tehran that it should be m^dt availcblw for the