'F 80 File 82/34 I APOC Concession' [‎228r] (400/436)

€ onl p a ny into a single speech. On the 7th December a celebration was held in
front o^the house of Seyyid Abu Talib, one of the new candidates for the Majlis,
in the Kniaban-i-Zand, about 200 yards from this consulate. Multi-coloured
•electric lights framed the house and platform. The heads of the Finance, Post
and ielegraph and Police Departments were present, in addition to a small
number 01 merchants. The meeting did not seem to attract a large crowd of
ordinary citizens, of whom not more than a hundred gathered around. It is
interesting that amongst the merchants were some whose feelings cannot be very
strongly anti-foreign, as, for instance, the Dehkan Brothers and Hidayat, the
Ford agent. The editor of the Gulistan was again the main speaker and made
^ speech not materially different from the two previous ones. After this the
merchants met m the garden of the same house in a building called the " Chamber
of Commerce, where the repetition of the same speeches took place.
3. The effect of these various meetings and local newspaper articles has
certainly been to arouse a certain feeling of animosity to foreigners and foreign
institutions. A reluctance to salute or show signs of recognition has been
noticed by Europeans amongst Persians previously quite friendly. The Khan
Bahadur of this consulate, who has a large number of friends, has been requested
by some to wear the Pahlavi cap if he visits them or goes walking with them.
While a few Persians seem genuinely to feel that the denunciation of the
•concession was, if not dishonourable, at least impolitic, the majority seem to be
swayed by the carefully nursed feeling that a victory has been scored over the
foreigner. However, a rumour which is now making itself heard, to the effect
that under a new arrangement kerosene and petrol will be considerably dearer,
may serve to temper this enthusiasm.
4. On the 9th December wireless news of the note presented to the Persian
Government, correct in substance, but omitting that part concerning reference of
the dispute to the Permanent Court of International Justice, caused considerable
apprehension amongst British residents in Shiraz. This apprehension was
calmed to some extent on the reception of the correct text of the note on the next
day, but again aroused by a rumour of forcible measures being undertaken by
the Persian Government to prevent the export of oil from Mohammerah. The
distance of Shiraz from any centre directly concerned in the question makes the
receipt of reliable news very slow, and in the meantime the variety of rumours,
some, such as that of an already existing new arrangement between the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company and the Persian Government, obviously false x and others
more credible, is confusing to those following the development of the dispute.
I have, &c.
J. P. SUMMERSCALE.