"تقارير إدارية ١٩٢٠-١٩٢٤" [ظ‎‎١‎٣‎٣] (٤١٢/٢٧١)

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16 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE
Command of having connived at tliese disorderly proceedings, and Brigadier-
General Fazlullali Klian Zahidi, with an ambition to succeed to a military
governorship in Fars, added fuel to the fire by demanding the use of the Gover
nor-General's quarters in the Government House for military requirements, and
the removal of Sarim-ud-Douleh to another courtyard. Without waiting to
resign, the Prince left Shiraz in a temper for his home at Isfahan on July 14th.
Meanwhile the elections were suspended, the object of one section of the
* democrats ' being to force a new election.
On August 13th M. Tompakoff,.the Russian Soviet Consul in Sl)iraz t
closed the Consulate and returned to Tehran. During his year's residence in
Shiraz he had been active in communist propaganda among the more extreme
politicians, newspaper writers and a limited circle of acquaintances : he had
also held several large gatherings to celebrate anniversaries of the Soviet, at
which lengthy speeches explanatory of the internal and external policy of the
Soviet were" made ; but presumably the absence of any Russian subjects in
Shiraz and of direct Russian interests made it unprofitable for the Soviet Gov
ernment to maintain a representative for the time, as the archives have been
sealed and handed to the custody of the provincial government.
Early in August His Highness Nusrat-ud-Douleh, G.C.M.G., eldest sou
of prince Farman .Farma, was appointed Governor-General and arrived in
Shiraz. From all points of view his term of office was a great improvement on
those of his predecessors. The working of the provincial secretariat had
fallen into confusion under the indolent regime of the opium-smoking Sarim-
ud-Douleh, who in :an endeavour to win popular favour by ultra-democratic
manners in the end pleased nobody and quarrelled with not a few : letters
would remain unanswered for months on one excuse or another. Nusrat-ud-
Douleh, besides being one of the most alert of the younger politicians of Persia,,
is a hard worker, and possesses real talents for administration. From the pcftnt
of view of British interests I must record my appreciation, for His Highness
has dealt expeditiously with claims and correspondence, and done his best
to. settle outstanding cases. His attitude throughout has been very friendly
to British subjects in general as well as to the Consulate, and he has more than
once hinted that he desired to recover the good opinion of His Majesty's
Legation. He rapidly gathered all threads of the provincial administration
into his own hands, and skilfully checked the signs of military predominance
and interference in civil affairs. His first efforts, aided by the delegation
from Tehran of a special commissioner of enquiry into the burning of the
ballot-box, were directed to the completion of the elections for Shiraz, and then
in the Outlying districts of Fars. In the result it can hardly be said that the
fourteen deputies sent to the fifth Majlis are representative of the voice of the
people, or travelled and enlightened men. Those chosen for the five seats for
Shiraz town and district were all turbaned folk, with a clerical upbringing.
The two great magnates of Fars, Soulat-ud-Douleh and Qawam-ul-Mulk, each
from identical motives of neutralizing in Tehran the latent hostility and in
fluence of the other, while as representatives of the nation protecting them
selves from pressure by the Central Government, had themselves elected for
district and tribal constitutencies : both now appear" to have repented of the
intentions to proceed to Tehran, and to have resigned in favour of the nm-
ners-up. The two deputies for Dashtistan and Bushire obtained their election
by intimidation on the part of local agents, and are dangerous firebrands- and
intriguers. Indeed eight of the fourteen deputies for Fars and the Gulf Ports
are men with a bad angiophobe record, and members of the extremist democrat
or i nationalist ' party.
Another step taken by Nusrat-ud-Douleh has been to increase the number
of districts with sub-governors directly reporting and responsible to the
Governor-General, and this has tended to extend the influence of the provincial
administration. At the end of 1923 the Government of Behbehan and the
Kuhgilu, for 13 years an appanage of the Bakhtiari, was replaced under Fars :
lack of communications between Shiraz and Behbehan, however, gives the
provincial government difficulty in establishing contract.
Except for Ahmadi, which is under Bushire, all the former powerful chief
tains along the Bushire-Shiraz road, have lost influence and been harried by
the authorities of Fars during the year.
His Highness, elected both for Kermanshah and for Tehran, decided in
March 1934 to relinquish his post aud take his seat in the Majlis, Though his