Coll 30/200 ‘Persian Gulf. Tour of Political Resident from Bahrein to Muscat in L. T. Nearchus.’ [‎8r] (16/133)

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fact on our return we stuck in a stony river bed and only extricated our
selves with the help of some local inhabitants, Mr. Hogere went to Minab
last Bpring along this track in his own car, this -being a very serious
risk for a new vehicle, but brought it back to Bandar Abbas by dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. . I
feel that officers in these out of the way places should not be compelled
to risk valuable passenger cars under such circumstances, which they
cannot replace except at x fantastic prices, and that Service vehicles
uould be provided for them instead. At the aerodrome I found some
officers of the South African Air Force who were enthusiastic about the
newly discovered aerodrome which has an entirely natural surface and run
ways of over 1400 yards in length with flat approaches. Mr. Lean pointed
out some locust droppings to me which showed that the area had been
heavily frequented in the past year. He doubted whether the invasion
would mature on the scale which had been anticipated but was naturally
relaxing no precautions. I enquired from him whether the zeal of the
ubiquitous Russians was entirely inspired by an interest in locusts, or
whether they had other objects as well. He replied that he thought that
the interest was equally divided between the locusts and reconnaissances
of a wider nature. It is interesting to speculate what reply we should
get if the Government of India proposed to send locust parties to the
Russian frontier.
5. The Trans Jordan Frontier Force was due to arrive that afternoon *
and a site for their camp had been selected by Mr. Rogers and the Locust
Officer. I had seen a dump of their stores at the jetty. The intimation
of the ship’s arrival only came the same night that it arrived, there was
no announcement that the ship was bringing a party to guard the stores, and
no intimation whatever regarding the officer in charge of them. Mr.
Rogers had some difficulty in persuading the Customs authorities to allow
them to take charge of an area outside the Customs and keep their goods
there. The officer in charge of the stores had no authority to select a
camp site, an important question with a unit of this size, and this, as
I mentioned above, had to be done for them. In addition it had been
arranged by Paiforce, without consulting this 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. , that the Consulate
would use a wireless telephone lent them by the Navy as a link for passing
messages from the Trans Jordan Frontier Force through Naval authorities to
the R.A.P. at Bharjah and Paiforce. This would have been completely
beyond the slender resources of this post and I immediately informed
them that it was out of the question. It is difficult to describe the
dislocation caused by the despatch of a large military body without
adequate consideration to areas in which they are entirely dependent for
their local contacts on a small post. We have had an unfortunate
experience at Bushire during the past year of the amount of work in which
we are willynilly involved, without, I may say, receiving thanks from
anyone.
6. On my retiim to Bandar Abbas I examined the Consulate buildings
and out houses. These are in a deplorable condition and have deteriorated
very seriously since Dr. Richardson’s day. Mr. Rogers informed me that
he had already expended his annual grants but that he had not yet succeed
ed in even completing the repairs to the roofs. I instructed him to
place the matter in hand without delay and said that I would go into the
financial question on my return to Bushire. It will be recalled that the
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. Engineer was permitted to return to India, his duties being
undertaken by the Secretary. I am afraid that in the state of chaos into
which oufc public works organisation has drifted it will not be easy to
arrange lor the essential repairs to be dene, and the work will now have .
to be paid for at famine prices.
7. As I arrived in Bandar Abbas in the morning and had to go on
board at 3 p.m. there was little time to complete ray inspection or to have
given as much time to security questions as I should have wished. Bandar
Abbas was vacant when Sir John Dashwood made his precent tour and he
therefore did not visit it, but Mr. Rogers was present at Bushire at the
time and is fully aware of his methods and requirements and is doing his
best to bring Bandar Abbas up to the standard of other posts. The room in
which confidential work is done requires some structural alteration which
he is putting in hand as soon as circumstances permit.
8. A Hindu temple here bears mute witness to the former existence
of a prosperous Indian coraraunity, and thetr departure Irora Kerman and
Bandar Abbas has had a very serious effect on the economic situation.
They conducted a specialised export trade and had connections with India
which Persia could not replace, and with their passage the province sus
tained a loss which it could ill afford.
Before...