'Report on the Preliminary Survey of The Route for The Central Persia Telegraph Line from Quetta to Bam and Pahra' [‎20r] (44/162)

[ Confidential^
No.
From
The DIRECTOR GENERAL of TELEGRAPHS,
To
The SECRETARY to the GOVERNMENT of INDIA,
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT.
Simla, the ist August igoi.
/ RECEIVED
7 . £. -^ 7 %
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Sip,
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With reference to the correspondence ending with my letter No. 152-T.,
dated 21st January 1901,1 have now the honour to submit, for the orders of
Government, Mr. H. A. Armstrong’s report on the routes he was instructed to
examine, together with his estimates of the cost of construction and maintenance
of Telegraph lines for the following Sections :—
(1) Quetta to Ladis ... ... ... ... 43 ° miles
(2) „ Koh-i-Malik Seah ... ... 478 „
(3) Ladis to Pahra ••• ••• 163 „
In addition to the above Sections, Mr. Armstrong has reported on the
country west of Koh-i-Malik Seah to Bam, within Persian territory, in accordance,
with the suggestion made by the Honourable the Agent to the Governor General
in Baluchistan in his letter No. 1093, dated 13th December 1900, addressed to
the Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
2. The report also includes some interesting information regarding the new
Trade route to Seistan which, although in ordinary circumtances would be beyond
the scope of a Telegraph survey, should, I venture to suggest, receive due
consideration in deciding the route of the proposed Telegraph line from India to
Persia, in view of the importance of selecting the best route for the International
line of communication of which that Section would form a part.
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3. As regards Estimates (1) and (2). With the exception cf the Section
from Chahsundan to Saindak, where the route of the proposed Telegraph line would
follow the diversion of the Trade route to the south of the . Koh-i-Sultan, instead
of the old road to the North, the country is practically the same as that^ reviewed
by my predecessor in his letter No. 16-T.fdated 1 ith August 1899, with whose
opinion 1 entirely agree. It is therefore unnecessary to supplement his remarks
further than to mention that, from Mr. Armstrong’s report, the road to the south
of the Koh-i-Sultan appears somewhat less difficult than that to the North. With
reference to the remark made by the Director-in-Chief of the Indj^European
Telegraph Department in paragraph 4 of his Memorandum No. I.-£^56, dated
15th November 1899, I would invite attention to Appendix II of the report in
which it is explained why this route was not examined by Mr. Armstrong on his
journey in 1899.
Estimate (3), Ladis to Pahra .—This Section lies within Persian territory,
and therefore a Telegraph line through it would apparently be erected by the
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