‏"ملخص الأحداث والتدابير الرئيسية التي اتخذها سمو نائب الملك اللورد كرزون من كيدلستون، نائب الملك والحاكم العام للهند في إدارة الخارجية. ‏I‏. يناير ١٨٩٩-أبريل ١٩٠٤. ‏II‏. ديسمبر ١٩٠٤-نوفمبر ١٩٠٥. المجلد IV. بلاد فارس والخليج الفارسي." [ظ‎‎٦‎٩] (٣٨٤/١٤٣)

40
47. It will have been noticed that the British loans were made nominally
Proposed purchase of shares by the through the Imperial Bank of Persia-a
British Government in the Imperial British, institution—which has thereby
Bank of Persia. served a most useful political purpose, as
the Agency through which the Persian Government has been enabled to accept
loans from Great Britain, without too flagrant a violation of the letter of the
Bussian Loan Contracts, and has thus succeeded in neutralizing the great
danger arising out of those Agreements, namely, the acquisition by Bussia
of the sole right to grant supply to the Shah, and thus dominate a corrupt *
and spendthrift Government. In order tq^render the Imperial Bank of Persia,
whose position had often been assailed by Bussian methods of Banking enter
prise, indestructible as a British instruction, Sir A. Hardinge suggested in
March 1903 that the British Government should purchase a sufficient number
of its shares so as to acquire a controlling voice in the management of the
institution. The Government of India supported this proposal, pointing out
that the danger of the Bussian Government endeavouring to obtain practical
control over the operations of the Bank, which they had not hitherto been
able to ruin by competition, was real. It was suggested that enquiries should
be made in London as to the manner in which the shares were held, and as
to the possibility of any considerable purchase being made on Bussian behalf
without warning being received in time to intervene. The Secretary of State
in replying forwarded a list of the shareholders with their respective holdings
and remarked “that the contingency of the Bussian Government obtaining,
by purchasing a majority of the shares, a controlling influence over the opera
tions of the Bank is at present remote.” A similar proposal was made by
Major Sykes in 1905 but was considered by the Government of India not to be
within the range of practical politics.