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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [106r] (210/949)
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
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9
is very anxious that T should go down via Turbat (Kech) to Pasni. I hear he is trying to
build a harbour there, so, if I can, I will not disappoint him. June 1 st should see me in
Karachi, when I shall want some money for pay, and followers camelmen, &c.
I am taking the usual precautions with this. Glad to hear the other got through all
right.
My tracings, I know, are dreadful, but get the 4 miles=l" sheets and 8 miles=l* sheets
from which the tracings have been made. They will explain things.
Dated Simla, the 29 th April 1903 .
From—L. W. Dank, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign
Department,
To—C. W. Hodson. Esq., Deputy Secretary and Director of Railway Construction
in the Public Works Department.
Many thanks for Johns's report. We should like to have copies of his maps when traced.
I will see about funds for him at Karachi, but we had heard nothing about his proposed journey
to Makran.
• Two letters and enclosures.
The papers,* which have been printed, may be submitted for the information of His
Excellency the Viceroy. We cannot make much
of Mr. Johns's reports without his maps, which
have not yet been received.
E. H. S. Clarke, — 6 - 5 - 03 .
Your Excellency will wish to sec these notes by Colonel McMahon and Mr. Johns.
They ought to have told us before Mr. Johns started off for Turbat and Karachi, but perhaps
it will be as well to have his reconnaissance of a possible railway route to the coast. McMahon
shows that, as we anticipated, the prospects of a regular irrigation scheme from the Helmand
are excellent, with Rudbar under our control. We dominate the whole position, and could at
any time divert the whole of the Helmand into the Gaud-i-Zirreh, and lay Seistan waste. If,
on the other hand, we had control of Persian and Afghan Seistan, we could probably irrigate in
both harvests an area of 2 , 000,000 acres with the supply in the Helmaud. Mr. Johns puts
the normal minimum supply at 3,000 or 4 , 000 +
t This should give in a cold climate some 600,000 cubic feet per second, which is as good as any-
acres in the Uabi. thing we have as yet got in the Punjab. In
his last diary for 21 st April, McMahon gives the measured discharge at Band-i-Seistan as
52,000 cubic feet per second, or sufficient to cover 100 square miles, 1 foot deep in 24 hours.
We could, therefore, count on over 1 , 000,000 acres in the Kharif. The potentialities of such a
land of Goshen are so vast that at all hazards we ought to try and secure a permanent hold there
of some kind. 2 , 000,000 acres irrigation at Swat canal rates would bring in Rs. 60 , 00,000 a
year canal revenue, excluding land revenue which might be put at another Rs. 20 , 00 , 000 . \Ve
could, therefore, afford to pay the Amir a very high rent if he would lease the area to us. Persian
Seistan must follow if we once get control of the river from Landi W ali Muhammad down
wards. Possibly an offer to raise his subsidy from the present permanent sum of 6^
lakhs
One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
a year to 25
lakhs
One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
might induce the Amir to consider the question of a lease, which would
obviate the necessity for objectionable boundary disputes between him and the Persians. It
is a fascinating prospect, and, if only it could be realised, we should absolutely secure the
southern half of the frontier, and at the same time largely reduce in the cost of garrisoning
Quetta and Baluchistan, since the cost of feeding the troops there would be greatly reduced.
Apparently also at first it would be unnecessary to lay the rails beyond Landi Wali Muhammad,
as, with a regulating weir at or near Rudbar, water carriage ought to be sufficient to meet our
requirements, and we should give no hostages to fortune in the shape of a permanent railway.
L. W. Dane,— 8 - 5 - 03 .
C[hrzon], — 8 - 5 - 03 .
Dated Simla, the 9 th May 1903 .
From—C. W. Hodson, Esq., Deputy Secretary and Director of Railway Construc
tion in the Public Works Department,
To—L. W. Dane, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign
Department.
Herewith a ferro. of a tracing compiled in this office from Johns’s maps and what other
information we have.
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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- 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