"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٣‎٦‎٤] (١٧٨٢/٥٠٧)

364
British
commercial
interests in
'Arabistan.
Question of
Xarun
irrigation.
British
official
matters in
'Arabistan.
The principal British interests in 'Arabistan were still, as in the past,
those represented by the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company
and Messrs. Lynch. There was a continuance of vexatious opposition to
British steam navigation and of arbitrary grain embargoes. The British
subsidy of the Company was renewed, on the expiration of the period for
which it was granted, in 1899 ; but the Government of India decided to
contiibute to it for only one year longer, their decision being dictated by
principles in regard to a division of financial burdens in the Middle East
between themselves and Her Majesty's Government, not by any doubt of
the impoitance of British interests on the Karun. In 1902 the Persian
Government, to the detriment of British trade^ closed custom houses which
existed at .\asiri and Shushtar and insisted on the payment of all duties at
Muhammareh ; but in 19U3 they were persuaded to reconsider and reverse
this step.
At the end of 1899 the road connecting Ahwaz with Isfahan via the
Bakhtiyari country, work on which had been begun during the last period,
was opened for traffic and materially facilitated trade. In 1904 efforts
were made to arrange for the opening of the Khurramabad-Ahwaz road, a
concession for which was held by a British corporation ; but they were
bi ought to a standstill by an attack in the Dirakwand Lur country upon
two Biitish officers engaged in studying on the spot the political conditions
of the enterprise.
In 1905 arrangements were concluded between an important British
Oil Company and the Bakhtiyari Khans for the exploitation, on the
borders of Northern 'Arabistan, of a concession which the former had
obtained for working mineral oil in Persia.
_ In 1903 - 04 the question of irrigating a portion of 'Arabistan from the
Karun, of which nothing had been heard for some years, was resuscitated
by a Dutch engineer. It was followed with close attention by the British
authorities who foresaw that, if the scheme were carried out under foreign
auspices, it might put an end to British navigation on the Karun without
any compensating advantage to British interests; and eventually in 1905
it was imestigated on the ground by a British irrigation engineer from
ndia, who found it to be unpractical, and who was charged with the
preparation of a more satisfactory project in case one should' be required.
The visit of the British Minister in Persia to 'Arabistan in 1903 has
already been mentioned ; another, to Northern 'Arabistan only, had been
paid by his predecessor in 1899. In 1904, to meet a need for improved
n is representation m the country, the British Vice-Consulate at
ammareh was made a Consulate, and a British Vice-Consul for