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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [22v] (43/949)
The record is made up of 1 file (475 folios). It was created in 7 Nov 1901-23 Aug 1905. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
10
REPORT ON TRADE OF PERSIA.
Yet this question of providing more rapid and cheaper transport to
inland markets seems to afford the best chance of increasing our trade in the
central and northern provinces. The freight on a ton of piece-goods from
Manchester to Bushire is about 2/. 5s. and from Bushire to Ispahan 10/. to
11/. The cost of transport from any seaboard to the Persian plateau is
about qc?. per ton per mile, whilst between markets in the interior, caravans
work for 4c?. to 6d. per ton per mile. On the southern and south-western
frontiers grain and forage are as cheap as in the central provinces.
It appears to me that an organised transport would serve better to reduce
the time and cost of carriage of merchandise than a heavy expenditure on
roads which, unless they inordinately increase the distance. travelled, must
include heavy gradients. The mule or camel can negotiate such steep
gradients much more easily than the wagon, and if there is space for the
caravan to carry its loads free of contact with rocks, trees and other caravans,
the animals are indifferent to a pefect surface so long as it is not deep in
mud, sand, or rolling stones. The load carried by a camel or mule does not
impose excessive inconvenience in the packing of the merchandises in which
we are most interested.
The routes based on the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
are those which most concern our
trade. Outside of it our only important trade is by the Trebizond route, and
our imports by it for the year March 1902-3 amounted to 227,000/., of which
66,700/. was tea (likely in future to follow the Batoum-Julfa route in transit),
and the remainder chiefly textiles. The imports of other European nations
(except Russia) were about 350,000/.
Our shipping interests profit not only from our own but from all trade to
the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
. We do not carry even our own merchandise to Trebizond,
whereas our shipowners earn freight on all goods (except Russian) passing
to or from Gulf ports.
An improvement in the conditions under which merchandise is landed
and forwarded to inland destinations through Gulf ports appears to me one
of the greatest benefits which could be conferred on our trade.
About this item
- Content
This part contains papers mostly relating to British interests in Persia [Iran] and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
It includes a copy of the Board of Trade Commercial Intelligence Committee ‘Report received from Mr. H. W. Maclean, the Special Commissioner appointed by the Commercial Intelligence Committee of the Board of Trade, on the conditions and prospects of British trade in Persia.’
A handwritten note at the front of the file, on folio 5, states ‘Spare copy of notes & correspondence of the “Helmand Control” file (with maps)’. Folio 110 consists of handwritten notes, including one dated 27 April 1904, which states ‘The secret Helmand papers have been printed up, and a set, with necessary maps, is submitted for H.E. the Viceroy to take to England.’ Much of the file concerns the question of controlling the water of the Helmand river and irrigating its whole delta, and the work of the Seistan Arbitration Commission to arbitrate between Persia and Afghanistan on the question of rights to the water of the Helmand in Seistan.
The file also includes reports by W A Johns on reconnaissances of potential railway routes made while he was attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission, and other papers relating to railways and roads in Persia.
In addition, the file includes copies of the following Government of India Foreign Department Proceedings, which reproduce received Foreign Department correspondence on the following subjects: ‘Selection of a British naval base in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .’, November 1901, Nos. 74-83; ‘Visit of His Excellency the Viceroy to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. during November-December 1903.’, February 1904, Nos. 33-127; ‘Establishment of telegraphic communication with Henjam. Question of the selection of a naval base in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Aggressive action of the Persians at Tamb and Abu Musa; their claim to the Islands.’, June 1904, Nos. 300-388; ‘Reports of the Commercial Mission to Persia.’, June 1905, Nos. 45-111; ‘Question of retaining flagstaffs erected in the neighbourhood of the Musandim Promontory’, August 1905, Nos. 288-307.’
The file also includes: brief handwritten notes written by Curzon on headed paper belonging to the Viceregal Lodge, Simla, relating to Seistan and to Lord Kitchener’s planned reforms for the reorganisation and redistribution of the Indian Army; and a printed copy of the report ‘A Note by Major H.L. [Herbert Lionel] Showers, C.I.E., on the present state of affairs in Kelat and a review of the system of Administration now being pursued.’
The file includes four maps: ‘Map of the Tail waters of Helmand River’ (13 July 1903), f 122; ‘Plan Shewing Proposed Routes for a Railway from Nushki to Afghan Frontier near Robat’ (10 April 1903), f 139; ‘Extract from Admiralty Chart No. 753. (Entrance to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ).’ (October 1901), f 219; and ‘Sketch of route Ram Hormuz to Fellahieh.’ (April 1904), f 230.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (475 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in no apparent order, apart from the Government of India Foreign Department Proceedings, folios 231 to 474, which are arranged in chronological order.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [22v] (43/949), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/359/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100093227828.0x00002c> [accessed 12 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/359/1
- Title
- ‘Persia – especially Seistan’
- Pages
- front, 2r:194v, 195v:196r, 197v:199v, 200v, 201v, 203r:272r, 273v:275v, 277r:405v, 408r:408v, 409v, 411r:413v, 414v:419v, 420v:424v, 425v:432v, 433v:435v, 436v, 437v:443v, 444v:471v, 473r:475v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence