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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [144r] (292/617)
The record is made up of 2 volumes (301 folios). It was created in 22 Jun 1896-3 Mar 1900. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
13
Mice of the Consul-General at Bushire is larger than the pay of the Consul.
General at Tabriz As the work of the Consulates in Persia is not only
Consu ar but. 1 olitical, and as a certain amount of show is very desirable in
the East, I think the rates of pay and allowances given by Her Maiesty’s Gov
ernment are much too low, and this view is evidently shared by the Eussians
But I hesitate to propose appointments kept up on the Indian scale, because
they would probably seem to Her Majesty’s Government out of all proportion
to the importance of Persia. Another difficulty is that any new post main
tained by the Government of India, for example, Seistan or Bahrein, would
probably be brought on the list of the Indian Political Department, and the
Government of India would have to fix the pay with reference to the interests
of that department as a whole. How r ever, I would suggest as a basis of
calculation that each Consul should have £600 a year pay, £150 office allow
ance and £50 house-rent—total £800; and that each Vice-Consul should have
£400 pay, £50 a year office allowance and £50 house-rent—total £500. I
doubt whether this is enough, but anything less than this would certainly he
too little. The Consuls-General at Tabriz and Ispahan should have at least
£800 a year pay, £270 office allowance and a free house. The total expendi
ture on all the appointments suggested would be five thousand and six hundred
pounds (£5,600) as shown below:—
£
* Seistan
••• ...
... 800
Kerman
... ...
... 800
Bampur
...
... 800
Bunder Abbas
•. • •. •
... 500
Bahrein
... ...
... 500
Karnn
oOO
Kermanshah
... •••
... 500
TJrumia
... •# *
... 500
Extra expenditure at Tabriz and Ispahan, say
... 700
Total
... 5,600
These proposals may be embarrassing from the point of view of the
Poremn Office with reference to the rest of the Consular Service. I can on y
foreign wmoe \v j would obser7e that pfe
^present the matter tom a n i y
fTifferent from tlfe life in European Consulates, or in seaport towns anywhere.
l “ iiTsome ^ ^
political oharaeten 11 ^Possibly the’difficulty could be met by attaching an Indian
allowance to Persian Consulates. _ ,
my memorandum of 189 o. in c % • b p a( i.nuarters. He should go
little use if be remains all ^ tribes an d inspect the trade routes, and
about among the people and th ^ ’ he shouia haV e a proper scale of
generally see and be seen. _ . - ^resent a Consul in Persia has no
camp equipage procured Indnu At p ^ does s0 ; n a style which
travelling tents kept U P fo1 , a ^ ec 0 ming. Ho sleeps in a duty little
in India would be considered very unb^^ I{ not) he get in t 0 a mud
room in a Persian posthouse, if 1 ^ ^ ^.P | ^ harin) and should not he
^.^retsetnUve heen^to ^
to live in irtL^lonsider^paiyof tlie^eai-.
# This may
somewhat mcroaaed by tte uccesaitj of »iataimog
native Agents
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
.
About this item
- Content
The volumes contain papers relating to Persia [Iran], including Seistan, and the tract of land south of the Baluch-Afghan boundary between Nushki and Persia, which had become British territory following the demarcation of the Afghan-Baluch border.
The papers largely consist of printed copies of correspondence between the Governor General of India in Council (Government of India Foreign Department) and the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), and enclosed correspondence and papers.
Letters from the Governor General of India in Council to the Secretary of State for India include:
- Number 170, 16 September 1896, relating to the opening up of a trade route between Nushki and the Persian frontier, crossing the tract of British territory south of the Baluch-Afghan boundary, and the protection of the newly-demarcated frontier, with enclosed memorandum by Captain Arthur Henry McMahon, British Commissioner, Baluch-Afghan Boundary Commission, containing his proposals for the management and administration of the tract and for the protection of the trade route
- Number 58, 31 March 1898, concerning the trade route between Baluchistan and Persia, including the suggestion that Consular Agents should be appointed at central points along it between Seistan and Meshed, with enclosures including a report by Lieutenant Frank Webb-Ware, Political Assistant at Chagai, on his visit to Seistan at the beginning of 1896, and the measures introduced for the development of trade between Baluchistan and Persia (which includes a blueprint map, Mss Eur F111/350, f 33)
- Number 163, 15 September 1898, forwarding copies of papers regarding the situation in Makran and Panjgur, following recent ‘disturbances’ in Makran.
The file also includes:
- Copies of Government of India Foreign Department papers numbered 40-58 relating to the Kerman Consulate and British interests in Southern Persia, including correspondence between the Government of India Foreign Department and the Secretary of State for India
- A letter from the Secretary of State for India to the Governor General of India in Council, with enclosed despatch from Sir (Henry) Mortimer Durand, HM Minister at Tehran, to the Foreign Office, dated 12 February 1899, in which he gives his opinion on suggestions for the appointment of additional consular officers in Persia (this includes a map titled ‘Skeleton Map of Telegraph Lines in Persia.’ Mss Eur F111/350, f 187)
- A letter from Durand to the Secretary to the Foreign Department of the Government of India, 24 February 1899, enclosing a copy of his memorandum (with appendices) drawn up in 1895 on the situation in Persia, and the steps he proposed should be taken to improve the British position there
- Copies of a draft despatch from the Governor General of India in Council, 2 September 1899, regarding relations between Great Britain and Persia, including improving the British Political and Consular service in Persia, and the extent of the share of responsibility for Persia that should be devolved upon the Government of India, followed by printed comments upon the draft
- Copies of a minute by George Nathaniel Curzon, Viceroy of India, on Seistan, dated 4 September 1899, including the question of a railway connection between India and Seistan
- Handwritten pencil notes by Curzon relating to Persia and the ‘Seistan Question’.
In addition to the two maps noted above, the file also includes the following maps: map of the area south of the border between Afghanistan and Baluchistan (Mss Eur F111/350, f 300); map of the area west of the border between Persia and Afghanistan (Mss Eur F111/350, f 301); and ‘Route Plan of Robat Nala’ (Mss Eur F111/350, f 302).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes (301 folios)
- Arrangement
Most of volume A is arranged in reverse chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume (from folios 6 to 76); volume B is arranged is rough chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this file consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover of volume one (ff 1-150) and terminates at the inside back cover of volume two (ff 151-304); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [144r] (292/617), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/350, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100072740554.0x00005d> [accessed 25 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/350
- Title
- ‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’
- Pages
- front , back , spine, edge , head , tail, front-i, 2r:32v, 34r:62v, 64r:84r, 86r, 89r:93v, 96r:96v, 99v:100v, 101v:128v, 129v:149v, back-i, front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 152r:186v, 188r:189r, 190r:299v, 303r:304v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence