'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎34v] (73/386)

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Lord Curzon’s Government in 1900 along with the first, hut its rea nation was
ddaved by the refusal of the Home Government to undertake a share in the
exSiture and by doubts of a technical nature as to the best means of carry,
inlit into effect; L object was the inclusion of the port of Bunder Abbas m
the circuit of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. cables. This it was original y proposed to
arrange hv looping one of the existing cables between Jask and Bush,re into
Bunder Abbasbay; hut in 1902 a proposal by the Naval Commander-in-Chiet,
that telegraphic Communication should he extended to Bassidore, suggested the
alternative of landing a cable on Henjam, where a British telegraph station
had existed from 1808 to 1880, and of constructing a branch thence to Bunder
Abbas. This alternative project was finally accepted by Ills Majesty s Gov -
eminent on the advice of Lord Curzon after he had personally visited Henjam
in 1903 and in April 1901 one of the Bushire cables was relanded on
the island and the telegraph station there reoccupied—without warning to
the Persian Government—in yirtue , of a former concession which had never
been revoked Subsequently in May 1905 the permission of the Shah was
obtained bv Sir A. Hardinge at Tehran for the construction of a line from
Heniam partly aerial (across Kishm island) and partly submarine, to Bunder
Abbas, and it was completed before the close of the year ; this line was to be
worked by Persian operatives, and on repayment of the cost of construction
it, was to become the property of the Persian Government.
Durin" the period under consideration no important concessions were
obtained by British capitalists in the
Commercial concessions. Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region with the exception
of a monopoly granted to a Mr. D’Arcy in 1901 for the working of oil fields
throughout the greater part of Persia, including Arahistan where operations
have since been commenced by a syndicate bearing bis name. Care, however,
was taken to safeguard the interests of British enterprise wherever it appeared
that an opening might subsequently be found. In 1902 an undertaking was
obtained from the Sultan of Oman, under the orders of the Government of
India, that he would not grant a concession to any foreign Government or
Company for working the coal fields inland of Sur until an opportunity had
been given to the British Government of undertaking operations there in
conjunction with the Sultan himself. The irrigation of a part of the plains of
Arabistan from the Karun River having been proposed in 1903-04 by a Dutch
engineer who succeeded in interesting the Shah in his project, the Government
of India, in virtue of an agreement with tbe Persian Government, in 1905
deputed Major Morton, an officer of the Punjab Irrigation Department, to
study the conditions of the Karun tract ; the project of the Dutch engineer was
soon proved to be fantastic and Major Morton was ordered to prepare an alter
native scheme, hut it had not been completed at the time of Lord Curzon's
departure from India. A guarantee that preference would he given to British
agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. should it be decided to carry out irrigation works on the Karun was
sought from the Persian Government, but it could not he obtained.
The foregoing paragraphs do not exhaust the manifestations of activity
which resulted, during this strenuous period in tbe Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , partly from
Tor,^ Lord Curzon’s direct instructions and
Land, surveys and explorations. i.i r i • , ,
partly Irom Ins encouragement. Ihe need
of a geographical and historical handbook of the Gulf for tbe use of political
officers having made itself felt, Mr. Lorimer of tbe Indian Civil Service was
in 1904 placed on special duty in the Poreign Office to compile a Gazetteer,
but the task proved to be one of considerable mngnitude and has not yet been
completed. In connection with the Gazetteer operations, detailed surveys of
various districts were made during the cold season of 1904-05 by a party of
Indian surveyors ; they resulted in tbe production of large scale maps of the
districts adjoining Maskat and Matrah in Oman, of the Bahrein islands, of
the country about Koweit and between Koweit and the Turkish frontier, and of
the Bushire peninsula. Numerous journeys of exploration were made by local
officers. In 1901 Captain Cox, then Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Maskat, traversed tbe
whole of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Tayin in Oman from the sea to its head and returned to the
coast by W adi Semail ; in the following year the same officer performed a
remarkable journey across the whole breadth of Oman from Abu Dhabi to