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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [132v] (263/949)
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.
20
Assuming that the water at the head works of the proposed canal systems is
divided into three equal shares, Afghan Seistan, Persian Seistan, and ourselves
would each get sufficient to irrigate 250,000 acres of spring crop. The arrange
ment would thus enable Persia to increase her spring crop cultivation to five
times, and Afghanistan ten times, the present area. Autumn cultivation could
be increased in even greater proportions.
17. The above concessions, apart from a lease of Persian revenues, would
amply repay the cost of construction and maintenance of an efficient canal
system in Seistan. Taking into consideration the area and quality of the
land and the fertilising nature of the Helmand water, whatever lands we
obtain by grant or lease would soon become a very valuable and paying
property. No consideration of cost need deter us from entering upon this
project.
18. The political advantages of taking it up are too obvious to need
comment. To begin with, delay on our part will not prevent the matter being
forced upon us before long, and in a manner which may render it impossible for
us then to obtain anything like the same advantages which we can now. A
control of the river can be so worked as to obviate any necessity for interfering
in the revenues or interior management of Afghan territory beyond such tracts
as may be conceded or leased to us. It will give us absolute political control
over Persian Seistan and everything connected with it, and will render the
present Russian scheme for peaceful possession of the country hopeless and
profitless.
19. As the carrying out of the project does not of necessity require a
preliminary understanding with Persia, we are not bound to tie our hands by
guaranteeing Persian Seistan any fixed proportion of water, and it would be
unwise to make any guarantee, unless we obtain to the full the concessions
and rights we require in return therefor.
20. The grant or lease of the deserted Ramrud-Hauzdar tract, the lease
of the revenues of Persian Seistan, a satisfactory modification of the Customs
system as at present worked in Seistan, and railway rights in Seistan and its
neighbourhood are among the concessions which the control of the Helmand
River would enable us to obtain.
21. The essential importance of obtaining the lease of Seistan revenues,
of course, lies in the fact that this prevents others from getting it.
Control of the land revenues in Seistan, where all land is State land, where
no private rights exist, and the people live in a state of bondage to the revenue
authorities, carries therefore with it supreme administrative, executive, and every
other control over Seistan and its people, while the control of revenue grain
means practical control of Seistan trade. It will thus be understood how
dangerous it would be to allow such control to fall into unfriendly hands, and
how fortunate it is that Nature has provided the means outside Seistan of
frustrating any scheme for conceding the lease of these revenues to any but
ourselves.
22. I have mentioned elsewhere that this lease might profitably be taken
on very generous terms. To explain this I would call attention to the follow
ing facts:—
(i) The amount wffiich the Persian Government derives from these
revenues is far less than the amount they are entitled to even
under existing conditions of irrigation and agriculture. This is
due to the corrupt methods of the Persian system, whereby the
local Governor and Governor-General absorb the larger part of
the revenues.
(ii) The Governor himself does not obtain anything approaching the
revenues which, even under existing conditions, the country is
capable of furnishing. The exactions and tyranny of the sub
ordinate officials have knocked out of the people any desire to
cultivate more than is necessary for existence. The rich qualities
of soil and water give them a small surplus, notwithstanding
their lazy apathy. Out of the 772 square miles of land now
commanded by water in Persian Seistan, only some 80 square
miles are cultivated under spring crop. With improved manage-
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’ [132v] (263/949), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/359/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100093227829.0x000040> [accessed 10 August 2026]
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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