'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.' [‎101v] (207/386)

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changed, being mountainous and excessively cold in the winter or caravan
season. Moreover, in Quetta the Seistani found himself in totally unfamiliar
surroundings and with no grazing for his camels, so that a railway which
enabled the Seistani traders to stop and unload their camels at Nushki would
clearly be a great convenience and encouragement to trade. Apart from these
Completion of the Quetta-Nushki considerations, the rail wav was nUn
Railway.^ recommended on strategic grounds in
connection with the defence of the Quetta position. The survey was completed
in May 1902, and the construction of a light line on the 5 feet 1 6 inches ^au^e
was sanctioned by the Secretary of State in the following August. Work was
at once commenced on the Nishpa tunnel and the Sheikh Wasil gorge, and the
line was completed in November 1905.
16. But political influence in Seistan could not be acquired by measures
Establishment of a British Consulate taken on Indian soil alone It was Inno-
£ Sel8tan \ , recognised that nowhere in Persia has
Kussian influence been so unscrupulously exerted as in Seistan for the purpose
° f closing the country to the legitimate exercise of our trading rights and
that British interests required the appointment of a British Agent in Seistan
as a complement to measures taken in India on behalf of the trade route It
has already been mentioned paragraph 3 of British Consular representa-
tion m Persia, Chapter VIII) that when it was rumoured in 1898 that a Russian
Consulate was to be established in Seistan, the Government of India immediately
approved diverting Captain Sykes from Kerman, then on a mission to Luristan
to support British interests in Seistan and that when the Russian Government
did appoint a Vice-Consul in Seistan in 1900 Lord Curzon’s Government
leplied by deputing Major Chenevix Trench in the same canacity. M. Miller
the Russian Vice Consul, reached Nasratahad on the 14th February 1900
accompanied by a Persian Munshi A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf. , three attendants and an escort of 6 troopers
his British coni rere reaching the Seistan capital on the 16th April 1900 accom
panied by an escort of 1 Native Officer and 15 sabres.
r n Pe ! , ™ r y 1 ? 01 > Major Trench kft Seistan to take up the appoint-
ment of Consul-General at Meshed, and was succeeded at Nasratabad by Major
. A. E. Benn as Vice-Consul. iSot long afterwards a change for the worse
nresscif from v 6 attltude the Hashmat-ul-Mulk, who at this time was being
f, ke n li vTto^ 68 ‘n to “^. ( ;S 00d certain arrears of revenue. This pressure was
t»ken advantage of by M. Miller who intimidated the Hasmat with the argument
that he could expect no escape, so long as he continued to further ^British
C°n P 8 P t Uatebuildi^ eoon8traotionof ,Ile ! nt , e, ' c9ts - The result was that, at the
hec,n In n ■ , bidding of the Russian Consul, he
refused ?ot-!n? si ? construction of the British Consulate buildings and
rctused to grant sites to Indian traders for the erection of shops. In vain it
Tehran't l nrov, 'I “ ‘ tbe land llad been sanctioned from
en^emen.s Hi? ani ' h *\ he "’ aS aotin - in deflailcc o£ a11 te 'aty
BH tlbwcrc nol t i rl n was , tba£ 0Dl y orders he had received were that the
was vvortli to io-norc ti 3 t°i' e< V°i"ji d ’ and ^ was m ore than his position
and masons w 0 ,„ 'e 'eats held out to him by M. Millor. All carpenters
Mulk’s ordm-s s '*1 /'fdf'™ fromthe Consulate premises by the Hashmat-ul-
beat!no' 0 and rS imif-' 70rbldd . n work for c °nsuj under penalty of a public
orders a rpieliA(l P l . lsonmeilt - fr '' as not till the middle of September 1901 that
the sale of Knd h T ^ thS < f ov e r “or-General of Khorasan, authorizing
Consulate rri 0 l ? ders and fr> e resumption of building operations at the
was “o 5 oel O T- 0 f , Sl ;°r d finaI! y ac( l uired the Government
Assistant’s nnarters d lnc ade d new Consulate buildings, a hospital with Hospital
with serai for P <£Ua J te 5f £or , t . le escor t and clerks, a treasury, a guest-house
and transport quaite" Uel ' V18lt ° rS ’ * Sma11 obsei 'vatory, and godowns, shops
18. The uoik of the Consulate continued to increase rapidly with the
c^nsuHn^stanf an Assistant to the development of trade, the establishment
fnntino- fi.o • i re , i ^ le ^ ers i an Customs on a European
Seistan 5 and thp^ 1U ” ra p c between India and Persia now passing through
oeistau, and the increased number of British subjects settled there. In addition