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7. The Imperial party arrived on the outskirts of Shiraz at 10-30 a.m. ort
the 27th March. The hooter at the cotton mill blared continuously from then on
until orders were given bv the Shah two hours later that it was to cease. At the
entrance to the town a guard of honour was inspected, and it is reported that a
woman, who has since disappeared, succeeded in presenting a petition. A few
of the local notables were on parade. Apparently no attempt was made to collect
tribesmen, as was done in other districts during the Shah’s progress. It is perhaps
as well that no opportunity was given for His Majesty publicly to ignore the foreign
consuls as on the occasion of his last visit to Shiraz.
8. A large part of the population of the town lined the Khiaban-i-Zand
dragooned by 400 armed policemen. Parties of school-children were stationed at
intervals with flowers purloined from half the gardens of Shiraz. His Majesty
passed down this road at GO miles per hour. There was no time for cheering nor
for casting of flowers, and no notice was taken of the people or the children. \\ hen
the Shah had passed, they were marched away with their flowers. They had been
there since 6-30 a.m.
9. A narrow street leads from the Khiaban-i-Zand to the house recently
occupied by the Governorate-General, which had been prepared for the Shah. All
the occupants of the houses in this street had been turned out by the police on the
previous day. His Majesty slowed down at the corner, where there was feeble-
cheering, and drove slowly up to the end of the street, where a delegation of women
and boy scouts and the main body of school-children awaited him. He was greeted
by rousing cheers here as he descended from his car. An address of welcome was
read by the wife of the newly-appointed Governor of the Qashgai, after which His
Majesty spoke a few words to the women and inspected the children. He was very
genial, and he specially praised the girls from Khanum Ella Gerrard’s School.
There is no record of his having found very much else to his satisfaction in Shiraz.
A second woman presented a petition on behalf of her son, a Qashgai cadet, who
was sentenced to death for striking his superior officer and had the sentence com
muted to imprisonment. The mother has now joined her son.
10. During the afternoon of Saturday His Majesty remained in his house,
though the Bagh-i-Takht barracks had been warned to expect him. On Sunday
morning the Ears Manufacturing Company was instructed to await an inspection
of their mill, the first to be erected in Iran and one which has hitherto been very
successful. Towards the end of the morning a message was received that he might
go later in the day. In the afternoon he reviewed the troops at the Bagh-i-Takht
and again failed to visit the spinning mill. On Monday morning His Majesty
again stayed indoors, though he was expected at the Kalah-i-Fars Industrial
Exhibition. He spent the afternoon visiting the cavalry and artillery barracks and
stopped for half an hour at the exhibition on his way back. He is reported to have
complained of its smallness and inadequacy, and to have stated that Shiraz indus-
rial activity leaves much to be desired. Early on the following morning His Majesty
left Shiraz for Persepolis and Isfahan. So far as is known, the Valiahd paid no
visits and was never seen without his father.
11. Thus, during a stay of two and a half days in Shiraz, His Majesty did
nothing but visit the various military establishments and an industrial exhibition
organised two years ago by the Government. Neither of the two spinning mills
was visited, nor did the Shah show interest in the schools nor in the museum
recently organised by the Education Department, nor in the restorations at the
Tomb of Hafiz and the Masjid-i-Vekil. So far as I can ascertain, he received no
deputation nor any members of the community, and he was scarcely seen at all
by the people of the town. And the Valiahd was not permitted to deputise for
his father and perform any act which might have gained him some measure of
popularity and approval. Two presents were graciously accepted from the in
dustrial and trading companies, one of which is understood to be a picture framed
in gold worth 40,000 rials.
12. The Qawam-ul-Mulk was a member of the Shah r s suite. During his
stay in Shiraz, the first since he left here for a forced sojourn in Tehran some years
ago, he visited various members of his family. He did not stay in one of his own
houses. An English lady who was formerly in his household was here at the time.
She was permitted to dine with him. According to information from this rather