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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [204v] (407/949)
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.
stream, and take out all the water, as we have done on the Punjab rivers, and there would be
no water to divide at the Kohak Hand.
To see that the Persians do get the requisite supply for irrigation, whether this is stated as
|rd of the total discharge in the cold weather or as a minimum quantity to prevent the risk
of the Afghans taking the whole amount, an officer on the spot will be necessary, and we may
endorse Colonel McMahon’s recommendation to this effect.
I do not here touch upon possible schemes for development, as they are not directly affected
by the case. All we have to do is to yive effect to General Goldsmid’s award, which requires a
requisite supply for irrigation to be given to Persian Seistan, and it would, in my opinion, be
dangerous to complicate the issue by referring to extensions of irrigation to Tarakun and
Hauzdar, or by defining the Seistan lands to which the award applies. I would therefore
merely modify award B, as I have done in pencil, omitting the second sentence of clause 2,
and clauses 3 and 4, but perhaps adding after the first sentence of clause 2 words to this
effect —
“ Observations show that between 20th September and 20th February, when the] river
rapidly rises, the average discharge is cubic feet per second so that the Persian share
of the water during this period is cusecs ; and in the event of the present volume being
reduced by irrigation works constructed up stream, this amount should, so far as natural causes
admit, be secured to Persian Seistan”.
However, before pronouncing any opinion, we may perhaps await Colonel McMahon’s
reply to my telegram, and in the meantime the case might be seen in Public Works Depart
ment, who may perhaps be able to offer some suggestions as to the best way of giving effect
to General Goldsmid’s award.
L. W. Dane,— 16-10-04.
The Secretary credited me with more intelligence than I possess when he said that Colonc»
McMahon’s report and the maps would enable me to understand this complicated
question. I do not understand it at all, and it is perhaps difficult for any one to understand
it who has suddenly to study the whole question from the beginning instead of becoming familiar
with it by slow degrees. I have no objection to the issue of the demi-official telegram which
will help to elucidate the matter, but I should be obliged if the Secretary would go through the
case with me and explain it to me over the maps Public Works Department may be
consulted first if the Secretary thinks fit, or else after I have got a clearer idea of the
question.
A[MPrHiLL], —16-10-04.
Issue the telegram and print up. Then send to Public Works Department. Let me
know when it is going, and 1 will speak to Mr. Benton. We need not trouble His Excellency
till we get Colonel McMahon’s reply.
L. W. Dane, —17-10-04.
3
Telegram from Colonel A. H. McMahon, C.S I, C.I.E., British Commissioner, Seistan
Arbitration Commission, Mo. 812, dated the 10 th (received 14 th) October 1904.
Repeats a telegram which he has received from Sir A. Hardinge, Tehran, and his repli/ thereto,
regarding tiie reported construction hy Afghans of a band on the Helmand River [above
Kohak).
Colonel McMahon has already informed Sir A. Hardinge that the band, about the building
of which, by the Afghans, the Yamin complained to Tehran in August 1904, was only a
small temporary one which, at the time of Colonel McMahon’s report, was diverting only
one-hundredth part of the Helmand water, and was in no way affecting the Persian supply
of water at the Kohak Band. Colonel McMahon added that the matter was very trifling :
it is still more so now, as he now informs Sir A. Hardinge that the river has risen, and, in
doing s , has breached and overtopped the Afghan Baud. No orders are necessary.
J. W. E.,—14-10-04.
G. W. M.,—14-10-04.
E. H. S. Clarke, —14-10-04.
Seen.
L. W\ Dane, —15-10-04.
Telegram, dated the 17th October 1904.
From—The Foreign Secretary, Simla,
To— Colonel A. H. McMahon, C.S.I., C.I.E., British Commissioner, Seistan
Arbitration Commission.
Demi-official. Your Seistan award. W T hat is the areaqn Persian Seistan, over and above
present cultivated area 141,000 acres, capable of irrigation at present without constructing new
channels through Afghan territory ? It is undersood that irrigation from Rud-i-Seistan on left
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’ [204v] (407/949), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/359/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100093227830.0x000008> [accessed 13 July 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