‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎179r] (356/949)

5
Loan Bank of Persia, the road from Julfa to Tabreez was begun, and is being
constructed at the present moment with the greatest haste. It is to be finished
as far as Tabreez by July 1904 , and is being built in such a way as to be con
vertible on necessity into a railway, the fall of the road, the curves, bridges, etc.,
being projected according to the rules of railway construction. A railway is
simultaneously being constructed from Erivan to J ulfa.
The road from Astara to Tabreez is very important compared with the The Astara-Ardabil-
other two, as it enters Persia through Ardabil, which occupies the next place Tabreez route -
after Tabreez in respect of trade; but it is not complete, and the port of
Astara is shallow and entirely unprotected from the wind.
Eor this reason many people have the thought that Lenkoran would be Question of a
far more suitable as a starting point for this route. Russian engineers even Railway"diSus^d
recommend a railway being constructed from Lenkoran to Tabreez, a distance
of 240 versts, which would certainly give Russian goods a great advantage, as
they would have to pay for a cheap water route by the Volga and Caspian,
and not more than 50 copecks from Lenkoran to Tabreez ; whereas the carriage
of foreign goods through Trebizond from England and the continent now costs
about 30 copecks by sea to Trebizond and from 2 r. 50 c. to 3 r. 30 c. per pood
by caravan route to Tabreez. But the construction of railways in Persia is
unfortunately a political question, and international convenience has to yield
to national jealousies. That a Lenkoran-Tabreez Railway, however, is quite
practicable from a financial point of view may be seen from the following
figures. Thus the cost of construction of 240 versts, taking into account
the mountainous character of the locality, and the necessity for improving
the port in Lenkoran would have to be calculated at not less than 24 , 000,000
roubles, or 100,010 roubles a verst. Interest and amortization would
amount to 1,200,000 roubles a year, and if the average annual expendi
ture for working expenses on the Russian Railway system be taken at 7,000
roubles, the working expenses would amount yearly to 1 , 680,000 roubles,
and the whole expenditure on the road to 2 , 880,000 roubles per annum. To
cover these disbursements 6 , 000,000 poods of goods in transit from Lenkoran
to Tabreez at a carrige charge of 50 copecks would be annually required ; and
since the goods entering Persia at the present time bear a burden five times as
great, the above rate is perfectly practicable commercially, and a less quantity
of transit goods would be required, if local carriage and passenger traffic covered
a part of the expenditure. In any case, these data are by no means merely
problematical, and if the selfishness of international politics does not offer an
insurmountable obstacle the Lenkoran-Tabreez line may prove profitable eyen
from a financial point of view.
There still remain three routes by which Russian goods enter Persia.
On the southern coast of the Caspian Sea there is only one natural The Enzeli-Tehran
harbour, Gez, through which all goods destined for Khorasan formerly passed, rout ®. { th t ^ 9
but which since the construction of the Trans-Caspian line has lost the greater construction of a
part of its importance. The ports of Astara and Enzeli are situated in an port at Enzeii.
exposed position open to the buffets of every wind, and very dengerous to
anchor in, and are, moreover, so shallow that sea-going vessels have to remain
outside and tranship the goods into flat-bottomed boats, whilst communication
with the shore in the event of the least northerly wind is interrupted for several
days. Enzeli is at the beginning of the Russian carriage road to Tehran.
The concession for constructing this and other roads was given to Poliakov by
the Shah in 1893 for seventy-five years. In 1895 operations were begun by the
construction of part of it from Enzeli to Kasvin, but serious work was not
commenced till May 1897 Poliakov received for the purpose a subsidy of 300,000
roubles from the Russian Government, and the work was carried on under the
direction of Glinoetzky, and the whole road was nominally completed in August
1899 . But heavy waggons were not allowed to use it for fear of damaging
the new surface, and the transport was effected by carts and camels on either
side of the road. In 1902 , 3 , 948^000 poods were carried over it in the direc
tion of Tehran, and 2 , 641,000 poods in that of Enzeli. Its real defect lies in
the fact that it does not commence at the port itself, hut at the hamlet of Pir
Bazar, which is separated from Enzeli by 20 versts of water way, known as the
Murdab. In 1901 , when Poliakov was in need of the support of the Russian