'Administration Reports of the Persian Gulf, 1945 [-1946]' [‎28r] (66/414)

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Tehran. One American Military Adviser, who made ho pretence of
i . loing any work, left for assignment to a battle area and his place
ras taken by a colleague from Kerman who seems to regard his mission
;o regenerate the Persian Army in Fars as divine as well as American,
I-: ?he American Financial Adviser terminated his employment at the end
v . )f December. In one respect, by discharging a scoundrelly inter-
. t • r; )reter, he showed to advantage over his predecessor but to judge by
;he number of days he was actually present in Shiraz to attend to
i . lis duties the Persian Government made in him a bad bargain,
>2. The Public Relations Bureau reading room in Shiraz was virtually
ij dosed. Only the relaying of broadcast news has been continued and
;hat in order to keep the town informed of the march of events in
;he north and thus prevent the spread of rumours likely to disturb
;he public calm. It cannot be said that the P.R.B, activities in
/ Ihiraz have been a striking success. The reason is that this sort
)f work to be done well is a whole time job, calls for constant
luropean supervision and an unfailing supply of bright ideas. In
^ ihiraz the reading room has had to make do with such attention as
lembers of the consulate staff could spare it. The regular P.R.B,
■' f ;taff was engaged locally.
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!3. If P,R,B, activities gave little cause for satisfaction the
ritish Institute has on the other hand gone from strength to strength
• nd in Shiraz at least it looks as if it would have been much more
f ' f ewarding to concentrate on the British Council than on P,R.B, The
eneral impression given that the British Council it was short of
; r 1 oney while the P.R.B, was flush points to misplaced emphasis. The
' xpansion of the work of the British Council in Shiraz is limited
1 nly by the cramp premises available and by the number of the
uropean staff employed.
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1 The British aeroplane used for weekly flights between Tehran
-i' -i; nd Bushire has given good service and could be duplicated with
,) .-vtv pofit.
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' J !6. There has been occasianal criticism of the A.I,0,C, in the
ocal press chiefly because stocks of primary products have been in
)0 v thort supply and in consequence there has been no opportunity or
;erious attempt made to provide for the needs of outlying areas. If
luring the war the first care of the A,I .G .C. was to attend to the
illied fighting services one of the first cares of the peace should
)e to study the local market. Fars is a province that has suffered
7 4 rom severe deforxeatktion and every year brings a crisis in fuel,
;t is here that the Company should make an effort to substitute oil
'or the diminishing charcoal and wood stocks. In Shiraz only bakers,
md not all of these, regularly use oil as fuel. The bakers find
. :he necessary equipment is expensive and difficult to obtain so the
,/ t , ;ampnay might well in Ihe public as well as their own interest make
irrangements to supply bakers 1 outfits on reasonable terms. They
. light also produce stoves suitable for use in Government departments,
jchools, baths and private houses and so increase the consumption of
, )il and reduce the demand for wood and charcoal,.Some charcoal will
ilways be consumed for domestic purposes but a drive on the part of the
company to supply oil-buring domestic, appliances seems much overdue,
tKxsxxixi^iatxEfxtkKXKBmxaHyixxfaiiiixjsxtjExiKlazRxt as is also the
') ^igorouss devdopment -and local sale of by-products. An example of
T the company's failure to interest itself in local needs is to be found *
In the two Shiraz wine factories both of which burn wood in their
iistilling processes.
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