Coll 28/8 ‘Persia; Diaries; Sistan & Kain, April 1927 – 1933’ [‎205v] (421/434)

are now convinced that the land in Sistan
rightfully belongs to them. As this finding
would involve the abolition of the Sistan
Khalisajat and an enormous loss to the
State finances, the Deputy’s message would
seem to be somewhat optimistic.
Two Revenue officials, Majid us Sultan
and Mirza Ibrahim Khan, arrived in Sistan
from Meshed on 2nd June and at once began
to take a strong line with the landholders.
Guards were placed on the houses of the
two chief Maliks in order to coerce them into
signing the contracts ; but the attitude of
the other landholders and cultivators be
came so threatening that the guards were
removed the following day. Efforts were
made to organize a large-scale bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location. at the
Consulate, but these were successfully frus
trated by H. B. M.’s Vice-Consul and staff
under telegraphic instructions from H. M.’s
Consul. Majid us Sultan, the senior of the
two Revenue officials, returned to Meshed
about 20th June, and no further trouble is
anticipated in the immediate future.
18. A similar agitation has been in pro
gress against the following increased Cattle
Tax rates which were promulgated early in
May —
Camels .. 10 krs. per head per
annum.
Cows, horses and
mules .. 5 krs.
Sheep and donkeys 1 kr.
Goats • 75 cents.
Some hundreds of cattle-owners are in
Nasratabad and, like the land-holders,
have with difficulty been dissuaded from
taking bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location. in the Consulate. The situa
tion is complicated by the fact that many
of the agitators are ex-members of the
Sistan Levy Corps.
There is much talk of wholesale migration
to Afghan territory on the part of both land
holders and cattle-owners in order to escape
the ever-increasing exactions of the Finance
Department, and it is just possible that
they may yet have recourse to what has
been from time immemorial the one remedy
of an oppressed Oriental peasantry.
Duzdap.
19. H. B. M.’s Vice-Consul has been hav
ing a certain amount of trouble with the
Governor, Mirza Mohammad Khan Hadi,
and the Rais-i-Nazmieh, who appear to
have joined forces in several petty attempts
to lC twist the lion’s tail ” during the past
month. He is therefore trying the effect
of a temporary cessation of social inter
course with the Governor. Official Duzdap
is rotten with corruption of all kinds ; the
Health Officer and the Finance Agent ha|;e
both recently been suspended, and cP^-
plaints against the Governor and the Rais-i-
Nazmieh are rife. Everybody seems to be
intriguing against everybody else, and the
atmosphere is far from healthy. One of
the worst intriguers is Yawar Ibrahim
Khan, 0. C. Serhad.
20. M. Hunin, Inspector of Southern
Customs, arrived in Duzdap from the Per
sian Gulf about 20th June. He informed
H. M.’s Vice-Consul that he noticed at Kuh-
i-Taftan station (a wayside platform im
mediately to the east of Mirjawa and just
inside British territory) a large quantity of
goods being unloaded for Khwash and
Bampur, obviously in order to evade the
payment of duty.
H. M.’s Vice-Consul has been in telegra
phic communication with H. M.’s Minister
regarding M. Hunin’s somewhat arbitrary
action in holding up an entire waggon-load
of goods which had been sealed by the
Railway authorities and attached to a train
about to start for Quetta, in order to counter
-verify certain bales of carpets under export
by the Standard Carpet Co. which had
already been certified free of aniline by the
Duzdap Customs Office.
21. Orders have been received from
Meshed that all motors leaving Duzdap
with passengers are to be inspected, and a
British subject named Mohammed Ali has
been appointed to perform this duty at a
salary of Ts. 30 per month. The fee
charged for this inspection is Krs. 5 at
Meshed and Tehran, but at Duzdap they
charge Krs. 10 on the grounds that the
yield would not otherwise be sufficient to
pay for the Inspector.
Sarhad.
22. Reference Diary for April and May,
paragraph 4.
A sum of no less than Ts. 20,000 (Rs.
53,333) has been allocated from the Customs
revenue as a loan to the Sarhad tribes.
Yawar Ibrahim Khan has been negotiating
with Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Taj Mohammed Khan and
K. S. Idu Khan Rekis with regard to the
payment of this money, for which he wants
the Reki Sardars to stand as sureties.
This, naturally, they refuse to do on behalf
of the turbulent Yarmuhammadzais and
Gamshadzais, and it is doubtful whether the
loan will ever be effected. Dost Moham
med Khan of Bampur is strongly against it