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'Report on the Preliminary Survey of The Route for The Central Persia Telegraph Line from Quetta to Bam and Pahra' [‎55v] (115/162)

The record is made up of 1 volume (77 folios). It was created in 1901. 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. .

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i6
temporarily occupied by nomads. No passenger or goods traffic can possibly
be expected from this region. However, 1 may note that Lad.s to Gwadur,
vid Pahra is about 385 miles, and Ladis to Quetta about 440 miles, along the
former route there is plenty of good camelgrazing, no scarcity of water at camping
grounds, and supplies are procurable at intervals.
In Northern Persia I will include the large province of Khorassan, abo
Siestan. From Khorassan and Siestan there are three routes to India. One
either vid Bundar Abbas or Gwadur, one vid Afghanistan, and one v:d
Koh-i-Malik Scab, and Nushki. The route which caravans usually take from
Meshed to Bundar Abbas passes, 1 think, through either Yezd. or ^ er ^ an * an <J
is a trifle shorter than from Meshed to Quetta, z^ Koh-i.Malik Seah and
Nushki • it has the advantage of passing through some large towns and villages
which between Khorassan and the British frontier are not so frequent and east
of Koh-i-Malik Seah along the Nushki route do not exist at all; moreover
Karachi and Bombay, which are within easy reach from Bundar Abt^as, are
undoubtedly better trade termini than Quetta.
As regards the two routes from Northern Persia to Northern India, the one
through Afghanistan is direct, while the one md Koh-i-Malik Seah, and Nushki,
is approximately in the form of two sides of a triangle. A glance at a map wi l
show this. The route from, say, Meshed to India vid Herat and Kandahar, and
the route from Siestan along the Helmand pass, comparatively speaking,
through fertile country, where water is plentiful, and supplies abundant, compared
to which the Baluchistan desert can have few attractions.
I am aware that there are difficulties at present connected with a passage
through Afghanistan, and it is only so long as these difficulties^ exist that
the Nushki route will have a leg at all to stand on. If the exorbitant taxes
which are now levied on transit trade through Afghanistan were removed,
or reduced within reasonable bounds, the Nushki route would at once cease
to be used. The Ameer has the power at any time to divert all trade from it
by lowering his taxation. If this route will be tne means of causing the Ameer
to remodel and improve his fiscal policy, it will deserve gratitude, but by doing
so it is certain to effect its own destruction, for, considering the intrinsic
attractions of each, the Nushki route is not in a position to compete with the
Afghan routes,
The sCccess of the Nushki trade route is doubtful, and its exist
ence PRECARIOUS.
23. In paragraph 21 above, I have attempted to show that the Nushki trade
route runs through a barren desert for about 360 miles as far as the Persian
frontier ; beyond this frontier there is another huge desert confronting it, extend
ing north for 80 miles before any village in Siestan is reached, and over 170,
miles before any village in Central Persia is reached. Throughout the whole
of this desert course the Nushki route cannot, of course, expect to get any local
traffic. In the preceding paragraph, I have explained how the Nushki route is
inferior to all other existing routes from Persia to India, and that the only places
where it can expect a flow of trade from are Khorassan and Siestan. From
Khorassan the flow is not likely to be very expansive. The trade returns of this
province, last published, for the year 1899-1900 show, I think, that its trade
with India is decreasing, and, considering the superiority of communications which
exist on its north, and on the south vid Bundar Abbas, compared with those
connecting it with India vid Nushki, the amount of traffic which at present comes
from it along the Nushki route is not likely to increase much. In paragraph
78, Appendix II of his report, already quoted from, Captain Webb Ware con
siders that a line drawn through Birjand, or even a little north of that town, to
Yezd roughly marks the boundary line between Russian and English commercial
supremacy in Khorassan and Kerman. Birjand is very near the south of
Khorassan, so, assuming Captain Webb Ware’s demarcation to be accurate, it
is clear that the Nushki route cannot expect any flood tide in the way of trade
from this province.
There is at present an experiment being tried with a view to open up a tea
market in Northern Persia which, from the way it is being carried out, is not alto
gether certain of success, at least as far as the Nushki route is concerned.. Indian
tea is not unknown in these parts. A wealthy and influential Persian merchant, I
am informed, resides at Meshed who imports direct, vid Bundar Abbas, and sells

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Content

A report by Mr H A Armstrong, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Telegraph Department. Printed at the Government Central Printing Office, Simla, 1901. The report is a survey of a potential route for extending a telegraph line from India to Persia, running from Quetta to Bam, with an alternative route going to Pahra. The volume contains a description of the routes taken, estimates of cost, and notes on alignment, marking out, location of offices, shelter huts for linestaff, maintenance, water, sand, supplies, climate, and the Quetta-Siestan [Sistan] trade route.

Throughout the report are black and white photographs of the route that accompany the descriptions (folios 26,28, 30, 32, 34, 37, 39, 41, 46, 49, 51, 52, 63, 67, 70, and 71). Folio 23 is a map showing the route taken. Enclosed at the front of the volume is a copy of the 'Convention between The United Kingdom and Persia extending the System of Telegraphic Communication between Europe and India Through Persia', 1902 (folios 2-6), and twelve loose sheets of manuscript notes on the report written by George Curzon (folios 7-18).

Extent and format
1 volume (77 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 79; 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.

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English in Latin script
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'Report on the Preliminary Survey of The Route for The Central Persia Telegraph Line from Quetta to Bam and Pahra' [‎55v] (115/162), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/377, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100075142289.0x000074> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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