"سيستان، بلاد فارس وسيستان" [و‎‎١‎٨‎٥] (٦١٧/٣٧٨)

very friendly, has promised me that he will do his utmost f„v tt, a r. , ■
and he may possibly do something. * * Shiraz-Bushire road,
Tehram and'the Imperial^ml™^ P^ 0 • es ! ;a,3 ^ s ^ 1 ‘ 3a . r ^ i between Sultanabad and
Knm to Ispaton ” he advantage of tbi^atT 6 ° bt 5 , ’? ed ^ 'T**™ iov a road from
What we want above all is ■ oSd road f^nX^no^t^P ^ , h ® wever ’ doubtM -
limits of our zone. th P * where our shl P s unload *<> the
have^been'in'^wsVl Ki 150 ?* "j 1 ' 1 ' 11 J think we should consider seriously. Since I
various lines o^ coun^ but Ihave so T^f tbe P ossi , bilities of a ^ccessfufrailway on
mi ^ route might possibly be found from the Karun to Ispahan and the north
The Bagdad line seems to offer a chance. The Germans have done no work on hk
endeavoim } GonCeSS10n ’ un } ess s «cretly renewed, has in reality lapsed. I shall
endeavour, if a chance occurs, to get some hold ou this road, without incurring anv
^baiiassmgohhgatnus. It seems to me that it might possibly he worth while to
sena horn India an officer accustomed to the work of frontier lines to look over the
several routes and make suggestions. His journeys 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 Majesty’s Government would prefer that the Persian
Agreement with Russia prohibiting railway construction should not be renewed It
SSSmKS. is 1 ‘ l “* «* 10 „„,w a, t o™„
TRQs! abo y . th . e mat ter ouce (see my despatch No. 61 of the 12th April,
1898), and the late Sadr-i-Azam then assured me that the Shah was very much
opposed to the renewal of the Agreement. ^
,taff Th TW °T "T 6 ag i UCy 7l\ ich We 0Ught t0 em P% t0 strengthen our Consular
staff. I have already explained the position of the Telegraph Department in Persia
and on the Persian Gulf. I am using it now to some extent as a means of obtaining
intelligence and it has at times been very useful in this way; but it should be made
useful m other ways as well. Wherever we have a Consul or Vice-Consul, as at
Rermaiisliah, Ahwaz, or Kerman, we ought to have an efficient telegraph line. The
me m these places is thoroughly inefficient, and in Seistan there is no line at all.
We can do something by pressing the Persian Government to repair and restore, and
at limes by lending efficient signallers, and by deputing officers to inspect and advise.
These things must be done with tact; but so far the Persian Government seems to
have entertained no jealousy of our Telegraph Department, which, on the contrary
has always been regarded with favour. It is difficult to make exact proposals with
reference to this point, because circumstances vary so much in different places; but
speaking generally, it seems desirable to spend some trouble, and money if necessary,
m getting the Persian telegraph system into our hands as much as possible. We
should try to construct the proposed land line from Kashan to the Kelat frontier, and
should connect it, or get the Persian Government to connect it, through Seistan with
Meshed. Eventually it should also be connected with the coast. I think we ought
also to pay our Director better than we do. He ranks here next to the Minister, and
he cannot maintain his position on a salary of 950/. a-year. The jRanager of the
Imperial Bank gets more than three times this sum. It is important that the Director
should be on good terms with the Persian Ministers and Notables, and be able to
entertain them to some extent, and he should also he able to move about the countrv
decently equipped. I will go into this matter separately and in detail, if the
Government of India are prepared to accept the principle that the Telegraph Depart
ment should be regarded in some sense as a political organization, and that some
expense may legitimately be incurred to make it more efficient in that respect.
I have now stated the main proposals which I have to make for improving our
position in Persia. It is briefly that we should increase the numbers and efficiency
of our Consular staff by the addition of certain Consulates and Vice-Consulates, and
by improving the position of our Representatives in Tabreez and Ispahan; that we
should open out roads in the Karan district and elsewhere, and possibly prospect for a
*392! E