Coll 29/11 'Tehran Legation: pay of munshis and menial staff; office accommodation' [‎80r] (159/525)

(A , rera g e U > V .„. JL^ar, « -lQ Qi>
General wholesale
Cost of
index, .... ...
Hiving.
At Slst November, 193o.
100.1
100.1
At^&lst December, 193 j.
103.4
103.4
At 21st December 1937.
128.3
127. 5
At Slst Deeeieb r, 1938.
126.9
133.6
At 20th January, 1939.
129.7
135.9
At 19th February, 1939.
132.4
136.7
At 20th March, 1939.
130.6
138.4
Hater figures are
not yet available, but
it con be
confidently asserted that the upward carve has continued, and
is continuing. The position on which the last review of pay
was hased in the despatches referred to above was roughly that
corresponding to ,tne 21st ^ece.ib- r, 1936* Taking this into
consideration, together with the continuation of the rise since
February last, and the fact that the figures ior Cost of living
refer to the whole country, whereas certain commodities (notably
rents and all forms of service) are notoriously higher in Tehran
than elsewhere, I am of the opinion that a rise in costs of 36
since the last review of the pay of tne local staff is no
exaggeration.
4. The increases in pay received by local employees of
similar, and of slightly higher status in the Imperial Hank of
Iran’s Tehran office show an average increase of 36.5 between
the 20 th Inarch, 1937 and the 20th March, 1939# The Bank do not
employ our system of basic pay and bonus, and this includes
increments that would regularly have been granted; but the
increments have been considerably augmented to keep pace with
the cost of living, and the highest paid of these employees (now
receiving Rials 6,000 per month) represents a grade beyond that of
any of our l unshis, and by so much further removed from the
subsistence level.