File 1341/1921 Pt 1 'Khorassan Intelligence Summaries 1921-1922' [‎313v] (274/1080)

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The salary of the first named is, therefore, according to the above inform
ant, 225 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. a month, presently equivalent to 855 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. ,—a not linden
erous provision in the circumstances.
13. The Bolshevik Consul General appears to be acting against British
interests, principally in the direction of trade prospects. He has urged
upon his hearers and impressed upon his emissaries into rural tracts the \
advantages of the Russian system of financing trade, such as the purchase ^
of prospective crops and fruits, whereas, on the contrary, he says, the
British are impoverishing the country by removing its specie in payment
of the goods they import. This is a sore grievance of the Persians who are
persuaded that the British are denuding their country of silver coin.
14. The Bolshevik Consul General has adopted rules for the issue of
passports to Russia which are undoubtedly framed with the object of
defeating British intelligence operations in that country. He has fixed
the passport fee at 9-2 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. (35 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. ). This may provoke the Persians
to retaliatory measures.,
15., Applicants for passports are asked their intentions for going to
Russia. If they say “For trade ” they are referred to the monopolist
Vnieshtorg in Meshed. If to seek work, they are informed there is a suffi
ciency of labour in Russia and no more is required. If the Consul General
cannot find a plausible excuse to refuse to issue the passport he asks the
applicant if he is prepared to pay 15 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. for a telegram to Tashkent
for sanction of higher authority. This last recourse usually frightens
away applicants.
16. Orders have been issued to all Russian frontier posts that travellers
from Persia not in possession of a Russian passport, must be regarded as
British spies,
17. The Bolshevik Consul General held a meeting at the Consulate on
the night of the 17th to which several leading citizens and ecclesiastics were
invited. The matter principally discussed was the export of food grains
to Russia, The institution by the American Mission of a new hospital was
referred to by the Consul General who asked his audience if they had any
objection to such a measure. The opportunity to contrast British systems
of trade with Persians with those of Russia was seized upon. The Russian
system, he said, was to exchange goods, the British system to charge double
the value of commodities sold and to take hard cash"
18. It is possible that the question of Persian contributions in aid of
the starving in Russia was among the agenda before the meeting. The Gov
ernor General is in receipt of orders from the capital to initiate something
with respect to this object.
19. It would seem that no member of the local government was present
at the above meeting.,
20. It is rumoured that the Bolshevik Consul General wishes to start
a local paper. An enterprise of this nature costs money, especially where
there are no advertisements to finance the news portion of the venture. It
is known that a member of the Consular staff called on a refugee Serb,
formerly a journalist in Petrograd. Presuming, then, the existence of the
necessary funds, the rumour may have some foundation in fact.
21. Suspects. — Three men, one a Georgian bomb-maker, another a
Russian engineer, and the third a Turk called Abdul Baqi, of Baku, re
turned to Russia. Abdul Baqi is a particular kind of criminal who is
reported to have done ten years in Siberia for an offence. He purported
while in Meshed to be acting for the Vnieshtorg but as he is illiterate this is
not likely to be true. It is more probable he is connected with the Central
Revolutionary Committee at Baku.
22. Economic .—The Bolsheviks are buying wool for export to Russia-
Among the articles they are importing are electric incandescent lamps, also
bales of cloth which, on examination are found to be made up of odd lengths
and pieces typical of the sham and deceit of all things Bolshevik