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'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66' [230v] (452/541)
The record is made up of 1 item (278 folios). It was created in 1865-1866. 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.
440
[Bombay*]
INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT
74. But there is still another road, and one that would
most naturally suggest itself to any one simply looking at
the map, viz. the direct route from Bunder Abbas to Shiraz
The objections to this route are that part of the intervening
country is said to be half independent and generally in a
disturbed state ; and secondly, that the Persian government
would probably not care for having a line that only added
so insignificant a place as Bunder Abbas to the towns in
Persia already in telegraphic communication with the capital.
Ibis road, however, should also, I think, be examined before
a decision is come to as to the precise route to be followed.
75. At present I am inclined to believe that the best
of the three is the direct road from Bunder Abbas to Ker
man, especially as it must be eighty or one hundred miles
shorter than the other by Giroft. And if proper measures
were taken for guarding and patrolling the line, I believe
there would be no physical difficulty in the way that could
not be overcome.
/(>. When at Bunder Abbas I was much struck with
the weak hold the Arabs seemed to have of the country.
While X was there a Persian Shahzadeh, who had come
without followers from Shiraz, wrung five thousand
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
fioin the Sheik by mere threats. There is no force in the
place, and the Arabs appear to be in it only on sufferance.
Ihe leisians, I have little doubt, find that they get more
revenue by farming the territory to Muscat than by holding
it themselves, ihe Persian and not the Arab flag is flown
over the residence of the governor.
I have the honour to be, See.
B. M. Smith, Major, R.E.,
On special duty.
P.S. I enclose a tracing of a rough map of our route
from Ispahan to Bunder Abbas and Chonbar.
About this item
- Content
Annual administration report of the Bombay Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. , providing a summary record of the main events and developments in each department of the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. during the financial year 1865-66.
The report is divided into the following headings, some of which are further divided into sub-headings:
- ‘JUDICIAL’ (ff 7-30), consisting of: Legislative; Civil Justice; Court of Small Causes; Criminal Justice; Police; Jails
- ‘REVENUE’ (ff 31-42), consisting of: Land Revenue; Alienated Revenue; Income Tax; Customs, Salt and Opium
- ‘FINANCIAL’ (ff 43-50), consisting of: Finance; Mint; Paper Currency
- ‘POLITICAL’ (ff 51-58), consisting of: Political; Kattywar [Kathiawar]; Kutch [also known as Kachchh]; Rewankanta [Rewa Kanthar]; Khadeish; Surat; Sind [Sindh]; Aden; Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- ‘PUBLIC WORKS’ (ff 59-117), consisting of: Military Army; Ordance; Commissariat; Military Finance Offices; Civil Buildings; Public Improvements
- ‘PUBLIC WORKS – RAILWAY’ (ff 118-134) consisting of: GIP [Great Indian Peninsular] Railway; BB and CI [Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian] Railway; Sind Railway; Indus Valley Survey; Indus Steam Flotilla
- ‘MILITARY’ (ff 135-161)
- ‘PENSIONERS’ COLONY AT CHALLISGAUM [Chalisgaon]’ (f 162)
- ‘INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH’ (ff 163-251). This section gives details on the Mekran [Makran] Coast and Musandam telegraph station. This section also has appendices: A (letter from Colonel Frederic John Goldsmid, Director in Chief of Indo-European Telegraph, and a report by Major Smith on the Island of Angaum [Hengam]); B (a report by Colonel Goldsmid of his journey through Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. [Ottoman Iraq] and Asia Minor [Turkey]); C (a letter from Colonel Goldsmid and reports by himself, Major Smith of the Royal Engineers, and Mr Johnstone, British Agent at Busrah [Basra], of the journey from Ispahan [Isfahan] to Gwadur [Gwadar] to survey the land for connecting the Persian [Iranian] and Mekran Coast land lines of the telegraph); and D (a letter from Colonel Goldsmid with enclosure proposing an alternative land line from Gwadur to join the main Persian line between Bushire [Bushehr] and Tehran).
- ‘PUBLIC INSTRUCTION’ (ff 252-258)
- ‘MEDICAL’ (ff 259-260)
- ‘SURVEYS’ (ff 261-265), consisting of: Revenue Survey; Topographical Survey
- ‘FORESTS’ (ff 266-268)
- ‘EMIGRATION’ (f 269)
- ‘MILLS’ (ff 270-272)
- ‘MUNICIPAL’ (ff 273-275)
- ‘ECCLESIASTICAL’ (ff 276-277)
- ‘COTTON FRAUDS DEPARTMENT’ (ff 278-279)
- ‘POPULATION, SIND’ (f 280)
- ‘AGRICULTURE, SIND’ (f 281).
A table of contents listing the headings and sub-headings of the report is on folios 5-6. There are two maps relating to surveys of the Indo-European Telegraph line.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (278 folios)
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66' [230v] (452/541), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/10/280/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100137004135.0x00003e> [accessed 5 August 2026]
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- Reference
- IOR/V/10/280/1
- Title
- 'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66'
- Pages
- 3r:29r, 30r:41r, 42r:90r, 91r:166r, 167r:235r, 236r, 237r, 238r, 239r, 240r, 241r, 242r, 243r, 244r, 245r:267r, 268r:270r, 271r, 272r:281v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence