'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency for the Years 1915-1919' [‎24r] (54/396)

FOR THE TEAR 1915.
37
poisonous intriguer"—was finally selected, chiefly in deference to the Shaikh
of Mohammerah's faith in his friendship. If Mujahid has proved at times
"difficile" on the other hand, it is doubtful whether Amir Jang would have
been much better, as we have reliable information that he went over to the
German cause.
Owing to our having no representative wiih the Bakhtiari Khans we were
the prey of a succession of alarmist rumours which, although primd jacie were
exaggerated and improbable, yet were embarrassing, as we had no satisfactory
means of checking them. This state of affairs was aggravated when the
Consul-General and the European community evacuated Ispahan and came
down to iNaseri. In this way, the rumour of a Kuhgelu attack on the fields,
a Kuhgelu movement towards Bushire, German officers drilling Bakhtiari sowars,
the advance of a party of Mujahidin down the Lynch road, ;\11 had their turn.
In the month of December, it was decided to send Dr. Young up to see the
Khans. His visit to them resulted in a clearing up of the situation and the
signing of a further agreement which covered more ground than that of
last May.
In the early spring the Wali of Pusht-i-Kuh moved down a considerable
t •. j ki. • t ** i, force to the right bank of the Karkeh
Lumtan aud Pusht-i-Kun. ,, 0 !!•, i i •
opposite Shush. His attitude was ambi
guous. "We know that the Turks and Germans made him many promises to
obtain his co-operation. Ghulam Reza Khan is however well known for vaccil-
lation and it is probable that he had no intention of helping the Turks unless
things were going very much against us. As spring drew to a close, he and
his following moved back into the hills.
Communication was entirely cut off from Luristan and no letters or
reports were received from our Agent at Burujird. There is therefore little autho
ritative news of internal politics of this region However, we knew that in
the early summer, the Gendarmerie suffered a very severe defeat at the hands
of the confederacy of all the Luristan tribes. The proofs of this were to be
seen in the large number of Gendarmerie rifles and ponies in the possession
of the tribes round Dizful. Nizam-us-Sultaneh is said to have pressed his
friend the Wali to punish the tribes responsible for the attack on the Gendar
merie, but the Yv r ali as usual, not wishing to take any definite line, advised the
Ilyat to move down to the low country. They took the advice and appeared
in the neighbourhood of Dizful as early as September. His Britannic Majesty's
Vice-Consul came in contact with the Sagwand in the autumn and endeavoured
to establish friendly relations with a view to opening the caravan road to
Amara and using the tribe to raid the BaRhtiari in case the latter turned
against us. He however early came to the same conclusion in regard to their
general unreliability and untrustworthiness as that arrived at by all British
officers who have had much to do with them.
The disturbances round Ahwaz led to the pipe line being breached and
, ^ _ nred, on the 6th February 1915. On the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company. , ' t oi er <1.1, .c t • j.
5th May 1915, the first repair party
ventured out and by the 9th June 1915, pumping was again renewed. During
this period, the settlement at the oil-fields was cut off, but communication
was maintained by telegraph from Shushter and by a fairly regular service of
runners who succeeded in getting through the Bawi country at night.
In addition to the damage to some 50 miles of pipe and 15 miles of tele
phone wire, the Company's sheds at Mulla Thani were burnt down and much
valuable property in the way of tents, carts, mules, was looted or destroyed.
The work of laying the new 10" pipe line has, of course, been much
hampered. Normally, the section between the head of the 8" line at Wais
and the fields should have been completed by October 1915, but owing to the
requisition of river transport for the use of the Army, it was found impossible
to get up sufficient pipe from Mohammerah to keep the line staff fully em
ployed, with the result that, by the end of the year, only 28 miles of the Wais
fields section was finished, and 5 miles of the remaining section to Abadan,
as well as a good deal of useful preliminary work. The chief effort is being
concentrated on the section Wais to fields as, once the 10'" and 8'" pipe
lines are joined, the present monthly through-put of 8 M. G. will be increased
to 12 M. G.