Coll 30/9 'Persian Gulf: Administration Reports 1926-1938' [‎496v] (997/1028)

The imposition, in the spring of 1926, of the RoacJ. Tax on the gross
weights of all imports and exports only served to hamper traders, increase
costs, and restrict trade still further. The south had been, relatively to the
North and West, little troubled by the road-toll and octroi {nawaqil) dues
taken at three or four points in the whole region. It now found itself bur
dened with a tax 15 to 20 times heavier in its incidence on trade via the
Gulf: and a tax, which was so carelessly framed in the classification of the
schedule, that trade in certain heavy goods, or goods in heavy receptacles
was stopped dead.
From March to December 1926, of a budget of 50,000 Tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. for the
Public Works Department in the South (from the coast to the Isfahan
border) only 22,000 Tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. (say £4,400) had been spent, and of that the
office expenses at Shiraz amount to 11,000 Tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. annually Yet th-
figures in Dr. Milispaugh’s 16th quarterly report for Road-tax taken at
J^ 11 shire in the first six months of the year were Tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. 20£,585 and accord
ing to the law, and to the condition made by His Majesty’s Government in
accepting it, 50 per cent, of the proceeds were to be spent in the province
where it was collected, or the provinces whose trade was deoendent on the
port or frontier post where it was collected.
One remarkable feature of 1926 was the adaptation of routes from
. h mi 7 . t° provincial centres, distant 100 to 200 miles, for light passenoer
motor traffic c.^., lasa Darab, Jahrun, Lar. The tracks are poor ind
the cost of labour was paid, not by the State, but by the Local towns nennle
villagers and property-owners for the most part. P P *
AH through the year the local newspapers have lamented the economic
iTJI^T ° f f he S T th ’ the P aucit y. of exports, dearth of money, and
huridreds of^hmisandToOTomans fr^'IL'p^s 0 of^the" 1 ^ 1 ,^ f If
KMKSt SSktSO 'r - 4 fits
y m Uils res P ect would have been acute by the end*of I9*>6
troduce freslfproducc^or^xmart hfbeen tt 11 ^ 16 ° bjeC f ° f -
Khan Qawam, on a three vear«’ ™ J * h ? engagement by Mirza Ibrahim
with experience in Egypt to run a Model a Br ^ tlsh agricultural expert
the experiment be starved for capital in •, m ’ and employ machinery. If
failure: and much too depends on the p f y ears > it is bound to be a
the proposed new cwpHforeign wtton sf< t0 the COast ' whwi
tobacco—are eventually produced. ’ same ’ flax > so ya. beans and
gatio^h'Ramtfrd di^riL^where^d^ °H the . Pul ^' ar nver for the irri-
of some thirty ruined villages has tmi CU f there has been a desolation
the Ministry of Fiifahe tolrohse felsonahle 'r ° W “g t0 tbe faiiure of
properties. Complaint is also P levelled h xT* f 0 the 0WB ers of these
occur within a year or two great damage tn td* ^ lni ® tr y that there may
wed as to the crops of the oeonle nnleo ,i le ' r P' vn land-tax interests, us
the eradication of locust eggs from the qmT a( ^ ef l ya te outlay for
Part of the criticism agalnft the present Ll 1S , trlCt f- in EaStern hrs -
government is indeed bafed, as in the matter of fh P 1Cy ? f the eentral
Bank, on the ground that the South is not .jin, l 1 , 6 Proposed Agricultural
Eire on development. This ‘reo-ionplicf ’ 0t al °, wed to sllar e in anv expendi-
‘HJT' alJuded t0 above . comXnt of S of" 1 Sh i° WS itSelf ' n aaoth ^
cated classes of Shiraz : a feature of ioofi 1 k n f em P lo yment for the edu
plficials sent down from the caniraI In 26 / . Jeen the nu mber of subaltern