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'Report on the Preliminary Survey of The Route for The Central Persia Telegraph Line from Quetta to Bam and Pahra' [‎56r] (116/162)

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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*7
Indian tea in the local markets. One result of a competitor appearing
on the scene, via Quetta, will probably be that the cost price of tea will drop,
but the Nushki route is not likely to benefit much thereby. A merchant
in Khorassan, importing tea from India, will bring it by the cheapest route, and
ore by which he can utilize his camel transport to the best advantage, and that is
via Bundar Abbas. There is very little return trade from Khorassan to India
via Nushki, and so the expense for transport over such a long journey, when
the flow of trade is in one direction only, is enormously increased. There is a
larger export trade from Khorassan via Bundar Abbas than via Nushki, for,
amongst other things, opium is sent by the former route, and is, I understand,
prohibited from passing over the latter.
Siestan, the only other place from which the Nushki route can get traffic,
is comparatively a small district, a sort of oasis in the surrounding wilderness,
with a poor population, numbering altogether not more than 6,000* people.
Such a place, if situated in India, would be considered an insignificant village.
Trade from here can never be of much importance. The chief industry is agri
culture, but the cost of transport to Quetta for most articles under this head
is prohibitive. Take grain, for instance. One camel can carry 5 maunds weight,
and his hire from Siestan to Quetta is, at a very low figure, say Rs. 20 : that
is, the cost of carriage is Rs. 4 per maund ; but a maund of grain in Quetta can
be bought for less than this sum, so that, if grain could be got for nothing in
Siestan, no profit could be gained in carrying it for sale to Quetta. A small
export trade can, I think, be established from Siestan in ghee and wool, but
these are not particularly valuable, or rare articles.
Exports from India to Persia along the Nushki route must, to a certain
extent, be regulated in quantity by the amount of trade from Persia to India ;
the eastward and westward flow of traffic must be more or less even, for it
could hardly pay traders to send camels laden in one direction for such a
long journey, and then return them empty.
Taking a general view then, there does not appear much scope for the
Nushki route to prosper, and there are, 1 think, no grounds for predicting that
it can ever become a financial success. In these circumstances, can any
guarantee be given from the Political Department that it will be permanently
kept up ?
There is one other important point. The Afghan routes from Siestan and
Khorassan to India are, as I have shown in the preceding paragraph, far
superior to the Nushki route. Hence it follows that, once Afghanistan is opened,
the Nushki route would be abandoned by trade, and in this case also any politi
cal object in maintaining it open would, presumably, vanish at the same time.
A discussion of whether and how soon this consummation is likely to occur is not,
of course, within my province. I may however say this much. Past experience
shows that a country situated as Afghanistan is, and exposed to the civilizing
influences of two powerful neighbours, from which there is no escape, cannot
remain unmoved, but must in time become progressive. Even if within some
years the country does not, either by treaty or conquest, come more within the
bond of the Indian Empire, yet it is not unreasonable to expect that a more
enlightened and liberal Government will soon prevail, which, by prudent methods,
will for its own profit, foster transit trade through the country instead of crushing
it out by arbitrary and ruinous taxation as at present. The Nushki route
depends entirely for its support on Afghanistan remaining closed to trade. That
this country will remain permanently closed is improbable, or at least uncertam;
hence the existence of the Nushki route is precarious, ana the chances of its
abandonment are not at all remote.
Present success of the Nushki route.
n\ The chief argument in favour of the route is, I suppose, that the
statistics of trade along it for the past few years may be considered progressive
and favourable. 1 quote the following particulars from official returns.
Rs.
1895-96 value of total trade ... — *** ^ ‘
do. do.
do. do. •••
do. do.
1896.97
1897- 9^
1898- 99
iSgg-^ 00
do. do.
* Vide Gazetteer, pages 208 and 209 of Mr
63»883
5 . 89.929
7,28,082
12 , 35 , 4 H
Wood's report (1899.)

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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' [‎56r] (116/162), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/377, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100075142289.0x000075> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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