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Agricultural Department.
This seems to be the one department with which the Shah is displeased. Aqa
Fikrat thTpro'vdncial Director of Agriculture, is under orders to go. Apparently
hikrat, tiie «ovin uncleaned cotton were grown on an average
of^T^ wh^tL expenses of the department were very heavy The
Shah accused th; department of inefficiency while the director attempted to
excuse himself by saving that the seed was diseased. The Shah retaliated by
Sking why Ae Iranian technical men trained in Europe had not been used to
examine the seed. ^ r y n , i
The strength of the department is being considerably reduced because the
Crown lands am, on the Shah’s orders, to be handed over to the Fmance Department
for early distribution to cultivators.
The Shah has ordered that within five years 25,000 hectares of land should be
devoted to the cultivation of cotton in Khuzistan.
Ahwaz Spinning Mill.
The board of the Ahwaz mill petitioned the Shah for cheaper cotton arguing
that the mill here worked at a considerable disadvantage because the cotton au
to be imported largely from the north, while the finished yarn had to be sent north
for The cost of transport made the Ahwaz mill’s products very expensive.
In reply the Shah said that the supply of local-grown cocton would soon be su
cient. P 5 the Shah added that the company should import a weaving plant, m
order to avoid the necessity of sending the yarn north.
The Shah expressed pleasure at the mill in Ahwaz and was informed that
the spinning plant was the product of a British firm (Messrs, la).
y djr'ious •
The Shah visited the French Archaeological Mission at Shush, and JS reported
to have shown annoyance at their work, complaining that they worked too slowly
and sent too much out of the country.
The question of whether or not triumphal arches should be constructed was a
hard-fought one. Money was collected from all classes of people to build about
twenty one arches, each costing not less than 800 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. . Sanction w^ gjven
to buv £1 000 worth of red, white and green cloth from Basra. Both the Governor
General and the military pressed for the erection of the arches. Then orders
were received from Tehran not to build arches and the Governor-General attempted
to remove them. The military objected and the arches stood Meanwhile, the
military telegraphed to Tehran that the people to build arches^ Fmally
orders were received to remove them. It is said that the people of Sultanabad
and Malayer complained to the Shah against being put to the expense of bu d ng
arches and he agreed with their point of view. It is not known how the balance
of the money collected will be distributed.
The local authorities tried to stop petitions being sent to the Shah some days
before his arrival, but realised it was impossible. Police officers were stationed
outside the Post Office to take the names and addresses of all who posted letters
addressed to the Shah, with a view to intimidating petitioners. This did not, how
ever succeed and many hundreds of letters and telegrams of complaint were sent to
him.’ To counteract to some degree the effect of petitions against the army, that
body caused a considerable number of messages of satisfaction to be sent to the
Shah.
As far as can be gathered, about half of the complaints were against the army
Other causes of complaint were the cost of living, the municipality and the burden
of taxation.
Considerable comment was caused by the Shah’s action in leaving Ahwaz for
Bushire on the ftuz-i-Qatl.
Previous to and during the Shah’s visit the police made a fair number of
arrests (including two Iraqis). So far no charge has been made against the
prisoners, and it is quite possible that they were placed in custody merely as a
preventive measure.