'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf for the Year 1936' [‎17v] (34/74)

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living goes up steadily and there is little return to be seen locally except
more and more barracks.
Industrial development in Shiraz and the Province of Fars has already
been mentioned.. The Cotton Spinning Mill at Shiraz, owned by the iars
Manufacturing Company, has given very satisfactory results. A dividend
of 8(i per cent, was paid on the year's working. Three shifts of operatives,
each of 200, are working day and night. Hadji Mohammed Hassan
Behbehani, the Managing Director, visited Tehran during the summer and
obtained a Government permit for extension of the premises. The build
ings have since been erected and it is intended to increase the plant to
10,000 spindles. The necessary exchange permit has been promised by the
Ministry of Finance and the order for spinning machinery is probably to
go to Piatt Brothers, of Oldham, who supplied the existing plant, and for
diesel engines and electrical plant to Mirrlees and the General Electric Co.
But some difficulty has arisen over the actual issue of the permits and the
machinery cannot for the present be shipped.
During the year, the same Company imported' German machinery
which has been sold to the Shahriza Company at Isfahan.
The second Spinning Mill at Shiraz, owned by the Brothers Dehkan
who also own the Fars Electric Company, has installed German machinery
which was ready for testing at the end of the year. Large stocks of raw
cotton are ready for use. A permit to import British machinery was re
fused by the Ministry of Finance.
The Electric Power Station succeeded in giving an all-night service
during the month of Ramadan. A second Mirrlees diesel motor is expect
ed shortly which will improve the already fairly reliable town-lighting.
The Merv-Dasht Sugar Refinery, near the Isfahan road some 25 miles
north of Shiraz, which was opened in October 1935 commenced work a year
later. Local beetroot has been used and by the end of the year sugar was
placed on the market. It is of good quality. 40,000 tons of beet are said
to be available, giving 18 per cent, of sugar, 7,200 tons of sugar have been
produced at the rate of 35 tons per day. But production i6 said to cost
200 per cent, more than the European sugar, c. i. f. Bushire.
British interests. —The Consulate was in charge of Mr. H. A. D. Hoy-
land. M.B.E., until April 22, when he proceeded on leave prior to transfer
handing over to Mr. W. H. Young, Acting Vice Consul. Mr. C. A. Gault
arrived from Kermanshah in July and remained in charge until November
21. when Mr. A. E. Watkinson took over on transfer from Ahwaz.
The Governor-General of Fars called on His Majesty's
Consul on the occasion of the death of His Majesty King George V.
Owing to Court Mourning no official celebration took place on the Birthday
of His Majesty King Edward VIII. News of the abdication of King
Edward in December was reported without comment in the local Press.
The fla" was flown on December 14 on the occasion of the Birthday of His
Majesty King George VI.
During 1936, the Officiating Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
the Secretary to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , and the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Surgeon, visited
Shiraz on recess. Mr. Butler and Mr. Reilly, of His Majesty's Legation
at Tehran, also visited Persepolis and Shiraz. His Majesty's Consul at
Kerman also passed through Shiraz.
Mr. R. F. G. Sarell and Mr. Robert Cecil, Probationer Vice-Consuls,
arrived at Shiraz on December 31 to be attached to His Majesty's Consulate
as language students. Mr. W. H. Young left for Tehran a few days later.
Other British visitors during the year included Brigadier-General
Prickett Lord Alington, the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
the Tehran and Isfahan Managers for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., and va
rious geologists, together with Mr. Schofield, an industrialisation expert,
who was touring Iran under the auspices of the Oil Company, members of