'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.' [‎101r] (206/386)

In July 1904, a Hospital Assistant and dispensary were sanctioned for
Saindak and tbe camel contract which had worked satisfactorily was renewed in
February 1905, the subsidy being increased to Rs. 300 in return for which
greater facilities to traders were provided for in the shape of increased speed and
a reduction in the cost of carriage.
12. The following statistics of trade by the new route since its inception up
to date are on the whole encouraging :—
—
Imports.
Exports.
Total.
Es.
A.
p.
Rs.
A.
P.
Rs.
A.
p.
1897-98 .,.
...
3,05,608
0
0
2,84,321
8
0
5,89,929
8
0
1898-99 ...
...
...
2,16,823
14
0
3,81,258
9
3
7,28,082
7
3
1899-00 ...
...
6,82,019
3
9
5,53,392
12
0
12,35,411
15
9
1900-01 ...
...
...
7,18,021
0
0
7,86,131
0
0
15,31,452
0
0
1901-02 ...
•V.
....
7,39,193
0
0
11,90,HI
0
0
19,29,637
0
0
1902-03 ...
...
...
5,71,650
0
0
1,65,649
0
0
10,40,299
0
0
1903-01 ...
...
...
1,75,471
0
0
5,64,987
0
0
10,10,458
0
0
1904-05 ...
...
7,01,171
0
0
9,20,116
6
0
16,21,617
0
0
13. A further step to encourage trade along the route was effected in 1905.
Indian traders using the Nushki route experienced great inconvenience owing to
the fact that only a second class customs bureau existed at Koh-i-Malik Siah so
that they were compelled to make a long detour to Nasratabad, for certain indis
pensable customs formalities, which in the case of caravans going to Kerman
and Meshed caused expense and loss of time. It was proposed, to the Persian
Government to make Koh-i-Malik Siah a first class bureau for Northern Balu
chistan instead of Mirjawa on certain conditions, one of which was that the
Belgians should admit the representations of our frontier officer as Consular
delegate on behalf of British traders. The Persian Goyernment accepted the
proposal, and in March. 1905 Muhammad Ashraff Khan was appointed British
Consular Agent at Koh-i-Malik Siah.
14. As an additional point of interest attaching to the trade route it may
be mentioned that it was used by the Seistan Boundary Commission en, route to
India. Notwithstanding the large number, both of men and animals, no serious
water difficulty was encountered anywhere and this afforded a good test of the
route’s water capabilities and that too at the particular season of the year
(May) when the heat was greatest.
15. A further measure to serve the new trade was taken in 1901. The
proceedings recommended by His Excellency in 1899 for the development
of the route, and since adopted, had been so successful that the question
of a railway had come, sooner than was anticipated, into the range of practical.
politics. In October 1901 the survey
Quetfca-TTushki Railway. ^ a rai l way li ne from Quetta to Nushki
was sanctioned. The arguments in favour of the Nushki line were (i) that it
formed the first section of a possible line from Quetta to Seistan, the strategic
and political value of which was discussed in Lord Curzon’s Minute of 4th
September 1899, and (ii) that it would have an immediate commercial
advantage of some importance in connection with the trade with South-Eastern
Persia by the new desert route. The road from Seistan to Quetta ran as far as
Nushki through a flat country at an average elevation of 3,000 feet. It was an
easy road, and the character of the country and of the inhabitants were familiar
to the Seistanis. Between Nushki and Quetta, 90 miles, the country entirely