ملف رقم ٩٣٠ لسنة ١٩١٢ "سكة حديد المحمرة - خرم آباد؛ [ظ‎‎١‎٥‎٩] (٣٩٦/٣٢٥)

“ last four years of from 700,0001. to 1,09L,000L
“ Besides this, British goods to the value of about
“ 150,000L enter the Russian zone by Trebizond to
“ Tabriz. Both these branches of British trade
“ would evidently be diverted to the Mohamrnerah-
“ Julfa railway when built, and both, if given a
“ f a i r chance, would then doubtless show consider-
“ able development; but, if the principle of ddfer-
“ ential treatment throughout the Russian zone is
“ admitted, they are sure to be handicapped out ot
“ existence, which will be all the easiei vvhen
“ Vladikavkas is linked up with lifb.s, and thiough
“ traffic established from the districts north oi
“ the Caucasus.
“Against this we might, I presume, count on
“ an increase of trade in the neutral zone, lesulting
u as time goes on from the development of the
“ regions through which the line passes, but,
“ though some of these possess no doubt gieat
“ potential wealth, their development seems at pie-
“ sent very remote. They are thinly populated,
“ and a great part of the line will run through the
“ most lawless districts in Persia. In any case we
“ already monopolize such trade as theie is in thtse
“parts, and our only gain would accrue from the
“ .expansion of trade already in our hands. In
“ short, we should gain nothing at Russia s expense,
“ whereas she would gain much at ours. On the
“ other hand, it must be admitted that a railway
“ from Mohammerah to Julfa, run on the puiel^
“‘open-door’ principle, would probably result in
“ disaster for Russian vested interests. Possibly a
“ workable arrangement might be devised by which
“the differential tariff could be restricted to the
“ regions north of those fed from Kermanshah and
“ Hamadan.”
Sir G. Barclay also dwelt on the advantage of rail
ways to Persia herself, since “ their existence would
“ put a powerful weapon m the hands of the Central
“Government . . . in regions where their autho-
“ rity is to-day a mere shadow, and can be set at
“ nought with impunity.” He further touched on the
question of the effect of a railway through his coun
try on the position of the Sheikh of Mohammerah.
28. in another despatch of the same date Sir G.
Barclay represented the desirability urged by Major
Cox, of the examination by a reconnoitring party of
the country between Bizful and Khoremabad, as a
necessary preliminary of its opening np by road or
railway.* “It would of course greatly injure our
“ commercial prospects if, for instance, Hamadan
“ were connected by rail with Julia, while the
“ Mohammerah section was still on l air at
“ Bizful.”
29. In the autumn of 1909 a proposal was laid
before the India Office, recommended by the Indo-
European Telegraph Company, by certain gentle
men, including Sir F. Mo watt and Mr. 11. F. B. Lynch,
M.P.', for an application to the Persian Government
Proposed examination of the country
between Dizful and Khoremabad.
Sir G. Barclay’s Despatch No. 289,
4th November 1908. (P. 133.)
Pol. 4162/08.
* For earlier correspondence on the
opening up of roads fi'om Ahwaz to the
north, see —
Mr. Marling’s Despatch No. 214,
13th August 1908. (P. 256.)
Mr. Marling’s Despatch No. 246,
8 th September 1908. (P. 366.)
Proposal for a road or railway
between Bunder Abbas and Kerman.
The Askhabad-Meshed Line.
Letter of Indo-European Telegraph
Company to Foreign Office, 1st October
1909. (P. 3.)
Pol. 4078/09.