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Coll 28/39(2) ‘Persia. Printed Correspondence, 1937–’ [5r] (9/320)
The record is made up of 1 file (158 folios). It was created in 11 Oct 1937-25 Nov 1942. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
7
in public, has the intention of dismissing Ali Naghi Beglari, the Governor
here.
10. During the two nights preceding the Shah’s visit and on the night
0^ of his stay in Kermanshah, there was what might almost be termed a sig
nificant outburst of robber activity in Kermanshah and in its neighbourhood.
A petrol tank lorry and a car following it were held up and looted near Kang-
avar and two robberies and a murder took place in the town. I am informed
that His Majesty learned of these incidents during his stay here and gave
vent to his feelings of disgust with Kermanshah and with its population by
bursting out to his entourage that “ the town was nothing but a hot-bed
of robbers and contrabandists
11. His Majesty did not visit the Kermanshah schools (where the children
for weeks past had been learning how to cheer and to sing songs of welcome),
or the Oil Refinery (where the Manager had strained every nerve to paint
all his fire buckets green, white and red and to arrange for as many as possible
of his staff to procure silk hats and morning coats for the occasion of His
Majesty’s visit) or the new Customs House (where the very efficient Director
had a creditable, newly built Establishment to shew to His Majesty). He
also did not visit the slumy Kurdish quarter here, where he would have seen
such a scene of squalor and so many Iranians dressed in non-regulation (and
in non-descript) clothing that many people would certainly have been punished
in view of such a blatant disregard for the Pahlevi law abolishing hovels
and forbidding the wearing of the picturesque Persian clothes which were
in general use until a few years ago.
12. If the Shah, as I understand, was not entirely satisfied with what
he saw at Kermanshah and with the reports and explanations which he re
ceived from his officials here, his visit to Shahabad, Gilan and Hamadan
on the other hand, are reported to have given him satisfaction. The sugar
factory
An East India Company trading post.
at Shahabad, after 10 months’ enforced inactivity, had started work
ing a few days before His Majesty’s arrival and was a hive of industry when
he°inspected it. The hospital at Shahabad too was visited and was found to
be sufficiently well administered to receive words of praise from the Shah.
The latter gave strict instructions to the local authorities at Shahabad that
the campaign against malaria, which is very prevalent there, should be waged
with increasing energy. Indeed, His Majesty (who owns most of the Shaha
bad district) is reported to be genuinely concerned and interested in improving
the living conditions of the population there and to have remarked that if
the malaria there cannot be stamped out, he may transfer the sugar
factory
An East India Company trading post.
to a less unhealthy neighbourhood.
13. Although the Shah undoubtedly inspires wholesale fear into his
officials, and the population, generally speaking, does not view with favour
the present regime (with its many restrictions and its tendency to interfere
unduly with the liberty of the people), all Iranians undoubtedly consider
that they have several reasons for being grateful to the Shah, and the
majority of Iranians would probably agree that, however much they dis
approve of the Shah’s rough methods, the country is rapidly making progress
in political and economic spheres, thanks to the Shah’s energy and forceful
character. Despite occasional outbursts of banditism, public security on
the roads is at present almost complete and more general than it was
under previous regimes. Honesty among public officials is probably still
almost as rare as it has always been in Iran but the fear of the drastic
punishments which the Shah can and does swiftly met out to corrupt
officials must be acting as a deterrent and in course of time it is just
possible that the percentage of honest public servants will slowly increase.
Itis probable that Iranians in general would be encouraged to cultivate habits
of scrupulous honesty if they felt certain that His Majesty w r as himself a
paragon of probity. Doubts on this point are felt by many, for it is remem
bered that the Shah was an impecunious officer with negligible private means
a comparatively short time ago and now his personal fortune is reported
to be immense.
14. The Shah’s visit to this district has, I think, done a great deal of good
for His Majesty has infused evergy into the officials, and given considerable
About this item
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Printed correspondence from the Government of India’s Foreign and Political Department (later referred to as the External Affairs Department), collated into yearly collections under the heading ‘Iran Series’. The original correspondence was sent by British representatives in Iran (chiefly the British Legation in Tehran) to the Foreign Office. The correspondence concerns: the announcement of laws, decrees, regulations, and budgets by the Government of Iran, the texts of which were frequently published in the newspaper Le Journal de Tehran ; reports from British consular officials covering a range of subjects, including commercial activities, foreign relations and the commercial activities of foreign individuals and companies in Iran, provincial affairs, and the activities of the Shah; in 1939 and 1940, reports concerning the impact of the Second World War on Iran, with a large number of reports from the Press Attaché to the British Legation in Tehran, reporting the dissemination of propaganda and public opinion in Iran.
At the end of the file is a single item of original correspondence, sent by the Secretary to the Government of India. Dated 24 August 1942, it announces the discontinuation of the printing of the Persia [Iran] series for the duration of the war (f 159).
A large number of items in the file are in French. These include the texts of Iranian Government laws, regulations and announcements that were published in Le Journal de Tehran .
The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (158 folios)
- Arrangement
The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 160; these numbers are written in pencil and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 28/39(2) ‘Persia. Printed Correspondence, 1937–’ [5r] (9/320), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3443, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100044336375.0x00000a> [accessed 18 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/3443
- Title
- Coll 28/39(2) ‘Persia. Printed Correspondence, 1937–’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:7r, 8r:11r, 12v:14v, 16r:16v, 20r, 23r:32r, 34r:41v, 42v:48r, 50v:55r, 56r:61r, 63r:65r, 68r:69r, 71v, 75v:77v, 79r:81v, 82v:85v, 89r, 91r:91v, 92v:93r, 94v:96v, 97v:101r, 102v:108v, 115r:118r, 124r, 125r:130v, 132r:134r, 136r:139r, 141r:141v, 145r:146v, 149r:151r, 152r:153v, 154v:159v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence