'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.' [‎116r] (236/386)

CHAPTER XVI.
Russian activity in Seistan.
1 Mention has already been made of the efforts of the Customs Depart-
ment under Russian influence to obstruct British trade in the south and west
of Persia. The facts permit of no other conclusion than that Russia s most
valuable instruments, w illing or unwilling, were tbe Belgian offieers appointed
to supervise the Persian customs s rviee in Khorasan and Seistan, in spite of
the repeated assurances from Tehran that their attitude would be one
of abstinence from political intrigue and perfect impartiality to British and
Russian interests alike.
2 In March 1900 two Belffhms, M. Castaigne and a subordinate,
, * f in Khorasan arrived at Meshed to take charge, under
and^se^tan 0860 * 113 officldls in Kllorasan the arl . an ,, Bment wit h Russia, of the
ana seisxan- _ ' .
Khorasan Customs, and in the following August the levy of customs in
Seistan was started under the direction of Belgian otficials. The new arrange
ments caused considerable popular discontent at Meshed, the traders o
which ulace were invited by the priests and merchants of Ispahan and
Shiraz to ioin in memorializing the Shah to the effect that, if Buropeansiner-
feredlnthe'customs, the merchants would cease trading. In March 1901 a
disturbance occurred at Kuchan, instigated by the Governor, against t'm "ew
Customs regime, and constant reports proved the widespread resentment felt
at the methods adopted.
3. The first complaint of unfairness on the part of a Belgian Customs
official was received m July 1901, oiuy
M-Spineiia. ^ w0 ninths after the Persian customs
administration had been formally transferred to the Belgians, when it was
reported from Seistan that British Indian traders were being harassed by M.
Spineiia, who was living with the Russian Consul, and whose proceedings we
said to he influenced by his
In August 1901 M. Molitor, the now Customs Director in Seistan
In August proceeded to enforce the existing, but
M. Molitor’s arbitrary action. heretofore practically obsolete, order
ntminst the export of grain from Seistan, in spite of the assurances of the
Director of Customs in Khorasan that Customs arrangements in Seistan
were to he made with the approval of the British Consul and w -
!TLnce to the Russian Consulate. It is probably more than a coincidence that
M Miller himself two months previously had been visiting the Persian ^UaSes
“«r .h. Afghan be*, -J C'S™S
British post aUhat place was cut off from supplies from Seistan, and caravans
rwoceedinff to Quetta were interdicted from taking any supplies for their
onward irmrney 'hevond the Persian frontier, until these orders were modihed
in September 1901? on instructions from Tehran in consequence of action taken
by the Government of India.
4, In October of the same year M. Molitor informed the British Consul
+ + hp of his intention to establish Customs
P e E rfo a Ba“^d f er t0ms P0St posts at Hormuk and one at the ‘‘ point
where the Nushki route penetrates Persian territory, in the Koh-i-Malik Siah
mni ’’ for the immediate control of the customs dues on the h erman road to be
followed later on by posts at Mirjawa, Ladis, Kuhak, and Khwash m the Sarhad
and eventually at Bampur and Charbar, thus completing a ch al n of posts
the Baluchistan frontier to the coast. In December 1902 Colonel roncti
IDs Britannic Majesty’s Consul-General at Meshed, reported that he had
received a letter from M. Molitor, who had then himself visited the fion lei.