‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [‎243r] (493/617)

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Irfdo-Buropean^TelegrajJi ^Departmentâ^Kara 1 !; • <l1 ? Dir ® ctor -General of the
of £120 is paid by the Government of India for V 0 Wll0m a s P ecia l salary
proposed to us that this cham-e should he tr,l f e , P . Urp , ose ' 14 has been
at Maskat; and for the present we re erve * “ sft i rr . e(i to ê Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
of such a change. It would be eminentlv de . 01, ! r ' 10a as to tbe advantages
connected by cable with Jask, since at present thereknoî Masl ? t shoul <l be
cation with any part of Oman fi 1 18 n0 tele g ra P^ lc com muni-
a later solution P But thls to ° 18 a êstion that must wait for
shouW have f'smaTgtard TCSn Imo^f"!' officers in Persia
at Meshed. We are not clear that simh n ,L, sl ™l lar to those now maintained
are apprehensive that it mio-ht lead in rn , P ° Sa at I' rf ' sell t desirable, and
which not even the necessitTe ° f a rfague coXtfld ^ P r, of B " ssia ’ for
cation, and which would scarcely C° c hstiZthwi fl 1 a ^ d m Justifl -
to Tour^Lo t 1 h’ 6 re " ecllot b® opinion which the Government of'lndirexpressed
interests are sufficiently involvedtoûftify vCIn fenisM^pStivf dCtach 11
ments as we are now doing at Jask and Charbar, for Telegraph stations on the
iCTvice. bUt ^ ° Ur mllltary Pr0V1S1 ° n mUSt ’ t° r the present, be limited to this
86. Her Majesty’s Minister also recommends the grant of a supply of
travelling tents to every British officer in Persia. As the majority of these
under the proposed arrangements, will he upon the Indian list, the suggested
oiitlay would require in such cases to be met from Indian funds. We°do not
think that any general rule is required. We are in the habit of including
camp equipment in the outfit of any officer whose duties require him to travef
We may observe, however, that tents are more likely to he required in out-of-
the-way parts of the country than they are along the main roads, where the
existing chapar or postal service, although destitute of almost every superficial
merit, is nevertheless more rapid and therefore as a rule more convenient than
travelling by caravan.
87. Lastly, Sir M. Durand makes certain recommendations with regard
to the improvement and better organisation of the Telegraph service in Persia,
both native and European. We concur with his suggestion that no oppor
tunity should he lost of getting the Persian wires, which are abominably
mismanaged, transferred to our control. He then revives a suggestion, of which
much has been heard during the last 20 years, that we should “ organise for
political purposes” the existing establishment of the Indo-European Telegraph
Department; although we do not gather very clearly from his despatch what
are the precise measures recommended for that purpose. The last occasion
on which a somewhat similar proposal appears to have been made was in 1887,
when a Memorandum, dated April 27th of that year, was drawn up by Sir
Murdoch Smith, who was despatched on a semi-political Mission to Persia, and
who recommended -that capable military officers should be scattered about the
country, nominally in charge of the Telegraph stations, but in reality as
political agents. In a despatch, dated June 24th, 1887, the Government of
India expressed a general, hut guarded, approval of the scheme. In our opinion
there are two sides to the question, for each of which much can he said. It is
surprising to us that an institution and a service that have exercised such an
influence and are so generally popular in Persia, as the Indo-European Telegraph
Department, should not have been attended with more visible political effect.
On the other hand, in proportion as the working of the line has become system
atised, so there has been less call for the type of Engineer Officer who was
required during earlier and more troubled days. The work at the majority
of the stations does not admit of much leisure on the part of the signallers
and line inspectors. At the more important posts we believe that a consider
able, though unobtrusive, influence is already exerted by the superior officers;
and we are not convinced that the appearance upon the scene of a number
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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [‎243r] (493/617)

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‘Seistan Persia & Seistan’ [‎243r] (493/617)

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