"سيستان، بلاد فارس وسيستان" [و‎‎١‎٤‎٥] (٦١٧/٢٩٤)

. , .^ 0 ^ iie wor k our Consular officers and traders, we want better roads
within our zone I suggested m 1895 that an officer might be usefffi in
Shuster to aid m the opening of the roads in the Lur and Bakhtiari country
and we have kept these objects steadily in view. The road through the Bakh
tiari country from Ahwaz to Ispahan is now making progress. I hope to march
over it a few weeks hence. After doing so I hope to return through the Lur
country, and it possible to open the road from Dizful to the north. It is very
desirable that our Karun trade should have an outlet northwards, and that the
Sultanabad and Kurdistan carpets, and the Hamadan and Kermanshah exports
should be able to get by the Karun. The carpets now go largely by Resht and
Russia. In other directions we may be able to get roads made or improved as
time goes on. The newly-appointed Governor of Shiraz, who seems very
friendly, has promised me that he will do his utmost for the Shiraz-Bushire
road, and he may possibly do something. An attempt is now being made to
establish cart traffic between Sultanabad and Tehran, and the Imperial Bank
of Persia have obtained the concession for a road from Kum to Ispahan. The
advantage of this latter road to our trade is, however, doubtful. What we want
above all is good roads from the point where our ships unload to the limits of
our zone.
This leads me to
Since I have been
m
a point, which I think we should consider seriously.
Persia I have tried to estimate the possibilities of a
successful railway on various lines of country, but I have so far failed to
discover a likely opening. It is conceivably possible, however, that careful
examination by an expert might reveal a route which would prove a commer
cial success. I understand that the Government of India do not favour the idea
of a railway from Quetta to Seistan. The Russians are at this moment anxious
about an alleged concession to an English syndicate for a railway from Bunder
Abbas to Shiraz. Such a line could not, I think, pay its expenses. A route
mioffit possibly be found from the Karun to Ispahan and the north. The
Baghdad line seems to offer a chance. The Germans have done no work on
this road, and their concession, unless secretly renewed, has m reality lapsed.
I shall endeavour if the chance occurs to me to get some hold on this road,
without incurring any embarrassing obligations. It seems to me that it might
nossiblv be wnrth while to send from India an officer accustomed to the work
of frontier lines to look over the several routes and make suggestions His
Burneys might, of course, excite the suspicion of the Russians, but I do not
know that this would do much harm. In the meantime I presume that Her
MatetVs Government would prefer that the Persian agreement with Kussia
prohibiting railway construction should not be renewed. It expnes this. year.
I am not at all sure that the Russians wish to renew it for it seems easier for
them to build paying railways than for any one else, hut I should be gla
hnow the Majesty "enh^^^
Sadr hAzam then assured me that the Shah was very much opposed to the
renewal of the agreement.
There iss one “^Sy^ainedThe^Stion Xthe Telegraph Depart-
rnentt" Persia and on .the Peraian^ulf. ^ ^74"?^
as a means of obtaining m e i 0 en > in other ways as well. Wherever
this way; hut it V !k-Ootul^
we have a Consul g V , “ lin0- The line in these places is thoroughly
orHit to have an efficient teJe 0 rapn . u We can do something by
inefficient, and in Sehtan and at times by lending
pressing the Persian Government to rapan ana ^ Th things
efficient signallers, and by ^Py 111 " ™ th Persian Government seem to have
must he done with tact; but
entertained no jealousy of om iele rap I to make exact proposals
lias always regarded ^favour. vary s0 muc h m different
with reference
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