'PRINCIPAL DESPATCHES AND CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO PERSIA CONNECTED WITH THE SUMMARY OF EVENTS AND MEASURES OF VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDDLESTON IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. JANUARY 1899 TO NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV-PART IV. PERSIA.' [‎9r] (22/136)

have created a great impression here. I do not think onr political influence
at the capital is any weaker than it was in the time of the late Shah. On the
contrary I think that at this moment it is stronger.
Even with regard to trade there are some encouraging features in the
prospect. Perhaps as this matter is one of very great importance, and as it is
especially connected with the question of our Consular establishments, 1 had
better examine it in some detail.
I may begin by pointing out that we have in Tehran an English Bank,
the Imperial Bank of Persia, with a capital of six hundred and fifty thousand
pounds (£650,000), and branches at Tabriz, Besht, Meshed, Ispahan, Shiraz,
Yezd and Bushire. This is the only Bank in Persia which can legally issue
notes. It has, I believe, done some unsatisfactory business in India, but so far
as its business is concerned it is in a flourshing condition. It did signal service
on the occasion of the Shah’s death, when it provided, at a few hours’ notice,
large sums of money both at Tehran and at Tabriz, thus enabling the provi
sional Government to pay up the troops who were in a very dangerous state.
The Bank has been threatened to some extent by Russian competition, but so
far it more than holds its own.
Our trade enters Persia by a variety of routes, of which the following may
be mentioned:—
1. Prom Trebizond into the north-west corner of Persia near Bayazid.
2. Prom the Turkish frontier near Khanikin, “the Baghdad route.”
3. By the Karun ports, Mohammerah and Ahwaz.
d. By Bushire.
5. By Lingah, Bunder Abbas and minor ports in the eastern parts of
the Gulf.
6. Prom Kalat territory.
7. Prom Afghanistan.
The last-named route has been practically closed for the time, partly by
the exactions of the Amir, and partly by the Russian sanitary posts, which
have stopped the passage of caravans between the Afghan border and South-
Eastern Persia.
Of the other routes that by Trebizond still brings in a considerable volume
of British trade, but less than half it once brought in. The estimated yearly
value of this trade is now about three hundred and two thousand pounds
(£302,000). Curzon’s estimate for 1889 was about six hundred and ten thou
sand (£610,000). It should be observed, however, that although the decrease
is doubtless due in part to Russian competition, it is also due in part to the
Armenian massacres and the troubled state of the country during the last few
years. There w r as a dreadful massacre in Trebizond itself which shook the
confidence of our traders. Trade checked in this way is likely to be diverted
to other channels rather than lost, and I believe this is what has happened.
Part of our Trebizond trade has now passed over to the more southerly routes,
especially that by Baghdad.
The trade by the Baghdad route has increased in importance, and seems
likely to increase still further, especially if the railway system spreads in Asia
Minor and Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. . In the absence of any English competition, the
Germans have unfortunately obtained a concession for making the road from
Tehran to Khanikin; and British trade in this quarter is threatened by the
Russian road from Resht to Kazvin, which, under the terms of the concession,
may be prolonged to Hamadan. Still at present the bulk of the goods imported
by this route are British, and we hold the Kermanshah and Hamadan markets
to the exclusion of all European competitors. Prom there we push forward
into Kurdistan and other districts, including Tehran and Ispahan. Our trade
for last year was estimated by the Bank .Agent in the Custom House at a
total of £1,018,155, of which £838,52T is British, And the exports are said to
5