'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎94r] (192/386)

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CTftO out of £1000 or £ 1,000 out of £1,500 on the ground that the division
feemed unfair and adhered to the opinion expressed in the telegram of he
19th June that it would be sufficient to improve the mule track, the cai t road
from Sultanabad being unnecessary.
8 By March 1902 a new company was about to bo registered to acquire
the Bank s road concession on condition that the Persian Government agreed
to extend the term for completion of the roads for a further P^iod °f ten yea s
and of a British ^nment gunrmrtee a^ams acUral loss for P
to tlie maximum of £2,000 me oecreiaiy ui ouo, u 4 \ji^h 1002
ment of India would accept liability for a moiety. Ou the 27th Match 1902,
the Viceroy replied accepting the proposal.
9. The new company called the Persian Transport CQmpany was formed^m
1009 hut the completion and transfer of sale was not completed till id .
till noi5l havin" heen promised in August 100-/, h t > - _ o
Lansdowne when’the former was in London. But the real difficulty m cai yi g
t^uTproject through lay in the character of the Persian administration.
10 Maladministration by successiye Goyernors who seldom remained he-
von 1 a year had failed to crush the anarchy prevailing for some time m Lui istan.
V fi ^ nf th« Ah wa/Tehran (Bur) road the Persian Government expressly
ilfeSC'S « £
ZtZl, to the insecurity of the Province the concession was of no u ; e and the
the ^“.tion which had originated with Sir M. Durand in 1890 was
wi h the question of increasing British influence in the Lur and Bakh.mi
country by raidng a corps from those tribes for the purpose.
T H e Mter proposal was also revived by the Government of India m
X^n^r^ith the scheme for m
Persia But Lord George Hamiltoh contented himself with a leterence
Sh A Hardings opinion, in which Lord Lansdowne concurred, that the
time was not then ripe for the establishment ot an Arab-Bakhtiari torse.
TO Accordingly Lieutenant Lorimer, who had had large experience of hi
tribes on the Indian frontier, was M '^ d 0 ^ e ^"?Vt^tvh»-Consttl, e Abwaz,
definiw p^p^ l* V 9 | l S a , C0, ; P S 3
the task in which Lieutenant Lorimer was engaged in the south.
14 On the 9th October 1903, however, the Secretary of State telegraphed
that in eonsenu aee o the death (on 31st July 1903) of Is endiar Khan the
i thnni of the Bakhtiaris and the apprehension of interference of Rossn
with the tribe Lord Lansdowne suggested provisionally, pending nr ler i
with the trine, 1,01 ^ wll0 3 „’ a3 s m ding his Military Attache to the
P ° 5 1 to r m n-t that the B ikhtiaris and Lurs should be encouraged tn raise their
Mi r^Po ce foV he protection of the roads in the Karan reg.on which
had lieen develops! by British enterprise and capita . f-^e es rl and
added that the grant of a small subsidy to the Chiefs would be necessary arm
- .Uo i.. h„„0„ r . now /'f. rSA 0