Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎116v] (232/248)

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before Soheilv gave up his task. M. Ahy had a certain capacity for making
trouble, though he enjoys no great prestige in the Majlis, and his intrigues
added to Soheily’s difficulties.
5. But the most effective factor which caused Soheily to resign was
probably his feeling that he had lost the confidence both of the Russians and of
ourselves. The Soviet Ambassador complained to Soheily, I understand, on the
28th July that his Government had failed to deal with the food, transport and. ^
fifth column problems. At that time Soheily was proposing to remodel his' '
Cabinet by introducing some new members, but finally decided to resign
altogether. It may have been that my own action in informing him on the
29th July that we were greatly disappointed by the failure of the Government
to deal with the wheat situation was the deciding factor. The Minister of the
Interior had been to Khuzistan to settle the wheat question there, but had failed
completely to extract any but the smallest quantities of wheat from landowners
known to have many hundreds of tons to spare. The labourers working for the
British military authorities and the towns of Ahwaz and Khorramshahr were
meanwhile going short. The Prime Minister knew quite well that we were
gravely concerned at this ineffective handling of the situation in an area where
our interests were closely affected. Further, we were pressing for the arrest and
handing over to us of a number of Germans and Persians implicated in the
evidence obtained by the British military authorities from a number of Germans
in their custody. The knowledge that this demand could not indefinitely be put
off may have decided him to resign before an unpopular decision had to be taken.
6. After his resignation Soheily, at the Shah’s request, carried on the
functions of Government for three days. During that time the Majlis sent
delegates to the well-known elder statesman, Hussein Pirnia (Mu’tamih-ul-
Mulk), asking him to form a new Cabinet, but Pirnia told them in no uncertain
terms that he refused to take office with such an intriguing and obstinate
Majlis. On the 1st August a ballot of the Majlis gave 53 votes to Qawam
against 22 to Soheily, and the former agreed to form a Cabinet on the under
standing that he was to have a completely free hand in the selection of his
Ministers. He proved willing, if not anxious, to discuss this question with us,
and cancelled several names immediately he heard that we did not approve of
them. His Cabinet as presented to the Majlis on the 9th August contains four
satisfactory members of the previous Cabinet (Said, Hajhir, Azodi and Hussein
Adi); two old gentlemen (Hakim-ul-Mulk and Mustashar-ud-Dowleh) in an
advisory capacity; an active new Minister of Education, Siasi; a benevolent old
oculist (Ismail Marzuban) as Minister of Health; and the energetic Kazemy
as Minister of the Interior. Hamid Sayyad. the new Minister for Posts and
Telegraphs, has occupied that appointment recently to our satisfaction and is
acceptable to the Russians. The selection of Ali Reza Gharagozlou (Baha-ul-
Mulk) for the Ministry of Justice is a surprise, as the new Minister has not held
office for a long time and cannot know very much about the details of the
Ministry to which he is appointed; but he has the reputation of being an honest,
well-meaning man. The Ministry of War was at first offered to M. Ala, who
preferred to retain his non-political post as general manager of the Banque
Mellie, and then to Kazemy, who refused it as too difficult; the Prime Minister
himself is therefore looking after that Ministry; and Taghi-Zadeh’s Ministry,
that of Finance, is also in the Prime Minister’s charge pending Taghi-Zadeh’s
reply. It is also proposed to appoint a Minister or Controller of Food with wide
powers, and I hear that Amanullah Ardelan (Haji Izz-ul-Mamalik) is to be given
that post; he has formerly had ministerial rank, though he has recently served
in provincial appointment, such as Governor-General at Kerman, at Rezaieh and
at Isfahan.
7. I enclose herein a summary( ; ) of the new Prime Minister’s speech to the
Majlis in introduction of the new CabinetA)
8. lam sending copies of this despatch and of its enclosures to the Minister
of State in Cairo, to the embassy in Bagdad with a copy for the General Officer
Commanding the Tenth Army, and to the Secretary to the Government of India
in ihe External Affairs Department.
I have, &c.
R. W. BULLARD.
p) Not printed.