'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.' [‎94r] (192/386)

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£900 out of £1,000 or £1,000 out of £1,500 on the ground that the division
seemed unfair and adhered to the opinion expressed in the telegram of the
19th June that it would be sufficient to improve the mule track, the cart road
from Sultanabad being unnecessary.
8. By March 1902 a new company was about to be registered to acquire
the Bank’s road concession on condition that the Persian Government agreed
to extend the term for completion of the roads for a further period of ten years
and of a British Government guarantee against actual loss for that period up
to the maximum of £2,000, The Secretary of State enquired if the Govern
ment of India would accept liability for a moiety. On the 27th March 1902,
the Viceroy replied accepting the proposal.*
9. The new company called the Persian Transport Company was formed in
1902, but the completion and transfer of sale was not completed till 1901. The
new company, however, set to work, an extension of the concession for ten years
till (1915) having been promised in August 1902, by the e^-Atabeg to Lord
Lansdovvne when the former was in London. But the real difficulty in carrying
the project through lay in the character of the Persian administration.
10. Maladministration by successive Governors who seldom remained be
yond a year had failed to crush the anarchy prevailing for some time in Luristan.
In the case of the Ahwaz-Tehran (Lnr) road the Persian Government expressly
charged themselves by Article 3 of the original concession with all arrangements
for the protection of the road, hut the newly formed company often complained
that owing to the insecurity of the Province the concession was of no use and the
position was beyond th> powers of a commercial company to deal with. They
therefore suggested the appointment of a competent British Consular Officer in
the neighbourhood.
11. The suggestion which had originated with Sir M. Durand in 1896 was
in keeping witlAhe general policy of the Government of India as laid down in
the despatch of September 1899 and it formed the subject of discussion between
Lord Curzonand Sir A. Hardinge during the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. tour in connection
with the question of increasing British influence in the Lur and Bakin iari
country by raising a corps from those tribes for the purpose.
12. Tlie latter proposal was also revived by the Government of India in
1903 in connection with the scheme for the location of Consular guards in
Persia. But Lord George Hamilton contented himself with a reference to
Sir A. Hardinge’s opinion, in which Lord Lansdowne concurred, that the
time was not then ripe for the establishment of an Arab-Bakhtiari force.
13. Accordingly Lieutenant Lorimer, who had had large experience of hill
tribes on the Indi m frontier, was selected for the post in Arabistan. He arrived
in January 1904 to take up the duties of His Majesty’s Vice-Consul, Ahwaz,
with instructions to enter into friendly relations with the Lurs and Bakthians
to afford assistance and protection to the road enterprise and to submit
definite proposals for raising a corps of road guards among the (Lur) tribes.
At the same time Captain Gough was appointed as His Majesty s Vice-Consul
at Kermanshah where he would be in position to co-operate from the north in
the task in which Lieutenant Lorimer was engaged in the south.
14 On the 9th October 1903, however, the Secretary of State telegraphed
that, in consequence of the death (on 31st July 1903) of Isfeudiar Khan the
Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. of the Bakhtiaris and the apprehension of interference ot Kussia
with the tribe, Lord Lansdowne suggested provisionally^ pending further pro
posals from Sir A. Hardinge, w'no was sending his Military Attache to the
spot to report, that the Bakhtiaris and Lurs should be encouraged to raise their
ovn Military Police for the protection of the roads in the Karun region, w ich
had been developed by British enterprise and capital. The Secretary o± State
added that the grant of a small subsidy to the Chiefs would be necessary and
invited the views of the Viceroy. A few days late^r a report was received
from Major Burton who bad, with the approval of His Majesty s Government,
early in the year, been directed to visit the Bakhtiari country and place himselt
* No payment is, however, now made from Indian funds towards this road, the ^ the^establiah-
Imperial funds, the Government of India contributing instead f -r a period ^ five year, towards tne
ment of a branch of the Imperial Bank in Seistan, vide Chapter XV, paragraph 9-0 P 0