'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.' [‎119r] (242/386)

183
system which required that every foreign traveller should possess a passport
hearing the visa of a Persian Consular official, or of a passport officer in Persia.
In 1902, the rules were revised, and the fees were enhanced. Ordinary
travellers were required to pay a charge of 12 krans 12 shahis, and labourers
and porters a fee of 4 krans 10 shahis, for the visa.
17. In August 1903, it was reported that the Persian Government had
determined to apply the rules on the Seistan border and that a special passport
officer was on his way to Seistan. As the boundary on this side was a purely
artificial one, and the Persian and Afghan villagers on either side were closely
connected in all their daily relations with one another, intolerable hardship
would necessarily ensue from the enforcement of such rules against the Afghans
who happened to live on the wrong side of an arbitrary line.
18. Mr. Dobbs, His Majesty’s Consul in Seistan, expressed the opinion that
the passport system was an unfriendly plan to injure British trade starting west
of Quetta, and to force Afghans to trade with Russia instead of with Persia and
India. He also reported, on the authority of M. D’Hoedt, that the Customs
Department were to help in the work of the passport officer, and that the
scheme would be practially under the Belgians. Colonel Whyte was told that
the officer was sent at the request of the Russians.
19. Matters were represented to the Secretary of State, and it was suggested
that the Persian Government might be asked to postpone the enforcement of the
system until suitable arrangements could be made to prevent injury to trade.
The Poreign Secretary of State instructed Sir A. Hardinge to ascertain the facts,
and to ask the Persian Government to postpone the enforcement of the rules
as proposed by the Government of India.
20. In September 1903,- Sir A. Hardinge informed the Government of
India, on the assurance of M. Nans, that it was certainly not intended to put the
passport system under the control of the Belgians, but in this instance, as in,
unfortunately, too many others, it was difficult to reconcile the correct attitude of
M. Naus in Tehran with the instructions issued to his subordinates in the pro
vinces. In January It 04, M. D’Hoedt, senior Belgian Customs and Postal
officer in Seistan, when his right to intervene in passport cases where British
subjects were concerned was challenged, sent the British Consul an official letter,
stating that his intervention was in accordance with instructions received
in a telegram from M. Nans, dated 20th June 1903. Ghulam Husain, the Persian
passport officer, continued to give all possible annoyance and trouble to Afghans
and British subjects, the sole object of the system being, in the opinion of Colonel
McMahon, to hamper the growing trade between Afghans and British traders
in Seistan. The passport officer’s proceedings became so outrageous that
in Pebruary 1904 he was ordered to leave Seistan and to make over his papers,
stamps, etc., to the Director of Customs. But, in spite of these instructions,
Ghulam Husain, who was in the pay of the Russian Consul, continued his
activity and lost no opportunity of harassing British subjects.
21. M. D’Hoedt was obstructive in other ways also. On 11th Octo
ber 1903, M. Naus recognized our right, under the Shah’s rescript, to exert
our good offices on behalf of Afghans in ordinary Customs cases, though not
in cases of fraud or contravention of Customs rules, and sent orders to his
officers in Seistan accordingly. In spite of these instructions, however,
M. D’Hoedt in December refused to accept an official representation from our
Consul, Captain Ramsay, in a Customs case in which Afghans were concerned.
In bringing this matter to notice Captain Ramsay also reported that the passport
officer was harassing British subjects, and especially Afghan traders and camel-
men ; this man, who had been extremely hostile to British interests before, while
employed in the Customs House, and was notoriously in Rmssian pay, had
refrained from calling on the Consul or sending a copy of his instructions, had
exacted passport fees from British subjects and also from members of the
Arbitration Commission, and had written to Captain Ramsay a grossly imperti
nent letter, couched in the tone of a superior addressing an order to a subordi
nate. Captain Ramsay recommended his immediate removal.