Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎76r] (151/248)

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Administration, United Kingdom Commercial Corporation, Paiforce, and the
other authorities who might be able to contribute towards improving the
situation. The existing Koad Transport Board may in consequence disappear.
The Road 'transport Department needs further trustworthy staff; and various
proposals in this connexion, including the seconding of Middle East Supply
Centre personnel to that department, are under consideration. The consequence
this disorganisation of civil road transport has been that urgent requests for
. 4 elp have had to be sent to Paiforce and to the Government of India to provide
transport for the movement of oil and cereals for civil needs. Paiforce have
taken over the entire transport of oil for civil needs from Kermanshah to Tabriz;
they have provided military vehicles for the movement of grain from Kermanshah
to Sultanabad and Tehran; and may also have to assume the entire responsibility
for providing transport for the anti-locust campaign. The total number of
vehicles involved probably amounts to some 500-600. A similar appeal to the
Government of India (who control the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation
trucks in the Meshed area) to authorise these trucks to carry oil from Shahroud
to Meshed has so far been unsuccessful, though a telegram has now been received
from the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation in London granting
authority for the purpose. The need for these trucks is urgent, as, unless
sufficient stocks of oil for civil consumption are built up now in Khorassan, the
bad state of the roads later in the year will make it impossible to supply these
t requirements. There will then be much distress amongst the civil population,
and the security of this aid-to-Russia route may be disturbed.
32. The shortage of controlled transport has made it virtually impossible
for the Government to supply vehicles for the collection of the sugar beet crop of
over 200,000 tons. This will probably be lost entirely, except in those areas
where the local authorities have diverted trucks for this purpose from the
transport of products like grain and fuel, which should have higher priority.
33. Road transport conditions have been extremely unstable during the past
year. At one moment they may be satisfactory : a number of privately-owned
vehicles may be working more or less satisfactorily for the Government and
essential goods may be transported to some extent according to plan. A few
days later the situation may have changed : the inducements of the uncontrolled
market may have attracted away many of these vehicles : and plans for the
movement of vital commodities may be entirely disrupted. Until a proper system
of control has been established this threat to the welfare of the country will
remain. It is to be hoped therefore that the latest measures of the Persian
Government to control civil road transport will be more effective than those
hitherto enacted.
Cereals.
34. Although the situation is still not free from anxiety, considerable
progress has been made in the last two months in collecting the surplus grain
required to feed Tehran and the larger provincial towns until the next harvest.
Over 150,000 tons of grain, or more than half the total requirements, is now in
Government hands, and landlords’ undertakings or contracts have been signed
for a further 110,000 tons.
35. The ban on the private purchase and transport of grain has been
enforced with some effectiveness in the south and west, particularly in Khuzistan
and in the immediate vicinity of Tehran, thus enabling the Government to profit
in these areas from this year’s good harvest. In Khuzistan more than 14,000 tons
have been collected so far, and cheap ration bread continues to be supplied to the
public in Ahwaz and three other towns in the province. In the Tehran area
total collections are already in the neighbourhood of 21,000 tons, and are expected
to reach a figure of 26.000 tons, as compared with an average of only 11.000 tons
for collections during the last four years.
36. Most of the wheat and barley collected in the Tehran area has already
been brought in to the capital, where it is consumed as fast as it can be delivered,
except for the barley, only 20 to 30 tons of which can be issued every day owing
to inadequate milling facilities. No appreciable quantities of grain have yet
been brought in from other areas, and stocks in the Tehran silo remain in the
neighbourhood of 10,000 tons, of which little more than a third is wheat or
wheat flour.
37. The requirements of Tehran from harvest to harvest are approximately
00,000 tons of grain. Allowing for the delivery of 25,000 tons from districts in
the Tehran area, the intention is to bring in a further 25,000 tons from other areas
in the south and west and 40,000 tons from the northern provinces. Most of the