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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [144v] (293/617)
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.
Against the cost of the appointments and increase of pay proposed may
he set oif a certain amonnt of reduction. If the Resident at Bushire spends
his summer in Shiraz, we can, I think, do away with the
native Agent
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
. This
would save £ 160 a year. If we have a Consul at Ahwaz or Shuster, we can
abolish the Vice-Consulate at Mohammerah. This would save £ 490, or a little
less, as we may want to keep a Persian Agent there and possibly one at Dizful
to do routine work. The
native Agent
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
at Kermanshah can be abolished, which
would save £ 24 a year. Pinally, we can turn the Resht Consulate into a
Vice-Consulate, thereby saving £ 300 a year. A Consul at Resht is not neces
sary. He gets no information of Russian movements outside Persia, and he
has no British trade to look after. A Vice-Consul could do all that is required.
The money now spent at Kerman would be saved if a permanent Consulate
were established there. I may perhaps be excused for suggesting that we
might possibly employ to better advantage some of the money spent at Meshed.
No doubt it is an important centre, politically and commercially, and the
Government of India, who find the money, may not care to divert any portion
of it to other posts in Persia. But after all a large portion of our trade in
Persia is British Indian trade, and the maintenance of Persia as a political
entity is largely, if not mainly, desirable on account of our Indian Empire.
It certainly seems to me that some portion of the £8,600 spent at Meshed,
and possibly some portion of the £7,700 spent at Bushire, might be better
employed elsewhere. At all events something could be spared for Seistan.
However, there is room for difference of opinion on this point, and I can only
suggest a saving of £ 1,474 on Resht, Mohammerah, Kerman, Kermanshah
and Shiraz. The saving at Shiraz could hardly take effect immediately, as we
should have to give the
Nawab
An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India.
some pension. We might, however, add to
our savings the Karun subsidy of £2,000 a year. In all probability Messrs.
Lynch would not receive this proposal with favour, but I do not think they
would abandon the Karun, where they are now firmly established. Half of the
sum would go to Her Majesty’s Government, and half to the Government of
India. The prospective payments and savings of the two Governments might
perhaps be arranged as follows :—
Payments*
England.
£
India.
£
Seistan...
800
Kerman
400
400
Bunder Abbas
500
Karun
400
400
Rermanshak
500
Urumia
500
Bam pur
500
Bahrein
500
Ispahan and Tabriz
700
Total
... 2,500
3,100
Savings.
England.
£.
India.
£.
Karun subsidy
• • •
1,000
1,000
Shiraz ...
• • •
160
Kerman
250
250
Kermanshah
24
Mohammerah
490
Besht ...
...
300
...
Total
... 2,040
1,434
The total cost to Her Majesty’s Government, therefore, would be £ 460 a
year, and to the Government of India £1,666 a year A
would be slTghfclylncreased! 8 ^ ^ ktCP DatiVe AgeDtS ° n the KarUn and between Seistan a “ d Meshed, then the totals
14
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’ [144v] (293/617), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/350, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100072740554.0x00005e> [accessed 23 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