Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎30r] (59/248)

11
( X
♦
all praise, the purity of his motives is tinged with doubt when it is realised that
all the outgoing officers were friends of his predecessor General Razmara, am
that all their replacements are his own cronies. The High Military Council
which General Razmara allowed to lapse into abeyance is again
Though not a body of great weight or authority, it has this use in that it defends
the Minister for War and the Chief of the General Staff from some of the charges
%f favouritism. The Majlis has again been debating the Conscription Law
criticising the system of drawing lots to choose the required number of conscnp s
from the annual call up, and also demanding that the period of compulsory service
should be reduced from two years to one. This latter amendment was rejected.
In the budget proposed for 1324 (21st March, 1945 to 20th March, 1946), the
army has been allotted 1,000,000,000 rials; conscription has^ been shown as
1 400 000 rials and 96,000,000 rials has been allotted for purchases ot military
equipment in the United States. These three items amount to approximatelv
25 per cent, of the total budgeted expenditure. When 398,246.100 rials are added
for the gendarmerie vote and 237,000,000 rials for the police vote, there is some
justification for the statements by Majlis Deputies that Persia is spending more
than she can afford on her security and defence forces. The Persian armv has
undertaken no operations of any importance during the past three months. Briel
references to military activity are given m the section dealing with tribal affairs.
The United States Government informed the Persian Government some time ago
that General Ridley’s mission would be withdrawn on the 1st March when the
period of their contracts expired. The Persian Government then requested the
United States Government that the mission should remain for some time longer.
The United States Government have cancelled their orders for the recall ot the
mission, but nothing has been settled as to the period for which they will remain
71 The Gendarmerie {including the United States Gendarmem
Mission) .—-There is little to report and such progress in efficiency and turnout
as has been noticed in the capital is offset by the frequent reports of inefficiency,
corruption and even connivance at highway robberies which have been received
from consular sources in the provinces. Colonel Schwarzkopf still keeps his
mission too centralised, and seems to busy himself more with future plans tor
organisation than with those frequent tours of inspection which alone can have
anv effect on checking corruption and combatting inactivity m a force split up
into so many small packets over so wide an area. Two reforms recently intro
duced bv him are sound. The first is to have no gendarmerie post of less than one
platoon' in strength. The second is to move his Persian gendarmerie officers
i round every two years—the minimum period, he estimates, in which a ocal
, commander can dig himself in and organise a system of graft on a large scale
72 ,( c ) The Police. —Brigadier Saif remained as Chief of Police during the
first three months of 1945. No further steps have been taken to obtain a foreign
oolice adviser No progress in organisation, administration or ethciency nave
been noted Shortage of personnel and shortage of money are advanced as
excuses for every failure and the whole force is rapidly sinking into decay.
Persian Air Force.
73 Early in the year the Shah outlined to the Air Attache his idea for a
grandiose expansion of the Air Force on very modern lines. His Majesty had
little conception of either the cost involved or the long and rigorous training which
would be necessary before his goal could even he seen over the horizon No more
has been heard of'this project, and the Air Force has on the contrary done less in
this quarter than the last, owing partly to natural inertia, partly to internal
dissension and partly to inept interference by the General Staff of the Army
74 General Nakhchevan has returned from his mission to the United states
brino-ino' it appears, no sheaves with him. He discharges in a desultory fashion
the duties of Inspector of the Air Force, an appointment which he does not seem
ever formally to have accepted.
Civil A ir Lines in Persia.
75 The Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones has taken delivery
of the third and last Dominie aircraft bought from His Majesty’s Government.
The commercial company which is trying to establish air lines claims that this
Ministry has agreed to its proposals, which are stated to be under consideration
by other departments, but there are no visible results so far.
The End of Dr. Millspaugh.
76 It was stated in the last report that there was a renewed agitation to
deprive Dr. Millspaugh of his economic powers, i.e., his functions of purchase,
[66—57] c 2