Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎440r] (882/1237)

i* Diary No.10 for 1943.
bay 16th to Juno 7th.
Weathor. In May we expect those tearing, duet-laden
winds to set In here In Azerbaijan, but, the season being a late
one, it was near the end of the month before the fjbrjrt-gwets
came from the west to whip away from the Karadagh ****
last tattered remnants of their white winter garb. And new
even the lordly ! abends are out at the shoulders.
Despite the wind we had good thunderstorms, with timely
rain. A story that there had not been enough rain in the „
Maughan steppe and that flocks were being set to eet the orops
where they stood was corrected by the Director of Agriculture
who went there himself, in a oar borrowed from tbe Husslana, and
reported that the rains had been aufftftj t eml > and that the crops,
as elsewhere, would beat Jill reeArda.
A departmental oar exists in Tabriz, but it has no tyres,
lor a ion- time the Director pinned his hopes on me to get him
tyres through the influence of tbe Legation; but I expect hie
priority is low, because he is still without his tyres, and now
knocks on Russian doors when he wants transport,
tit
Locusts have been reported from the Maughan ateppe hut
the Director of Agriculture eaya they will do no damage to this
year*e crop at this stage. He says precautions ought to be
taken to prevent breeding and possible damage next year. He
is hopeful that the Russians will provide the necessary vehicles
to enable him undertake this work. It will be in any case a
small operation compared with what our people are doing in the
south.
112. Agriculture . .bout ten tons of sorghum have been sown in
Azerbaijan. It Is a new crop here and peasants were reluctant
to handle it, but they were persuaded when assured that it would
fetch the same price as barley and could be sold free of control
I still have no figures of suger-beet sowings but I am
assured they will not be lees than last year.
Local officials have done nothing to Implement the
government’s policy for collecting the harvest. None of the
commissions has been appointed. Everything is being gladly
left in suspense pending the arrival of Jawad Ahmlrl, who has
been nominated to come from Tehran to take over the upply Dept,
and collect the harvest. The Director of finance told me that
of course Ahrairi is a distinguished official, but Implied that
his experience wasn’t such as would qualify him for wheat
collection.
The government’s scheme provides for commissions to go
around before the harvest estimating the yield and thui another
aet of commlssiona to go out and lay hands on the grain at
threshing time. It seems very doubtful to me whether
Azerbaijan will attempt to do both rounds. The Director of
Finance dwelt on the enormous distances, the bad roads, the lack
of transport end the paucity of competent civil servants.
113. Coxamunica11 oas . The Persian post has speeded up with
better weather and we have actually had mall in three days instead
Thi V r ?iif3alns very isolated. Theme is no
courier service ami the various staffs in lehran are clearly too
occupied to be able to snatch all ch&nce opportunities. Thus
no communication other than telegrams was received from the
Chancery between May 4th and Aky 28th, when an accumulation of
undue weight fell on my reduced staff. Among much other belated
material, a fine big map of Tunisia lay in Tehran from tie
beginning of April, and reached Tabriz only on May IQth. This
latter was particularly regrettable, because there were lorries
leaving every few days by which non-oonfidential material could
have been despatched, and because that map would have been most
useful to me in my talks with the Russians about Tunisia. As
it was, I had only a small map out from the "New York Times’* of
April 4th to show tne General. The service from America is sood.
The air-raail edition of TIMS gets here faster and more regularly
than the air-mail edition of the WAIKLY TIMED. Ordinary paper*
t ake