'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎445] (504/714)

THE GOVERNMENT
445
treasury is administered in the present niggardly fashion, muda-
hhil remains an essential feature of public life in Persia, and no
reform is to be anticipated.
Although it might be thought that the existence of the pur
chase system on so extensive a scale would render long tenure of
Duration office rare, it is not as a rule found in practice that this is
in office case> The official in possession is in a far better
situation than the candidate who wishes to oust him, inasmuch
as he has at his easy disposal the means of increasing his annual
gift or purchase money to the Shah. Moreover, the test of good
governorship in Persia being, not the amelioration or contentment
or prosperity of the province, but the absence of highway robbery
and the punctuality with which the taxes and customs are paid into
the royal exchequer, personal merit plays a very small part in the
bargain between sovereign and deputy, and dismissal or degrada
tion by no means follows upon proven incompetence. Too oi'ten
it has happened that when complaints against au oppressive
governor have been manifold and just, the accused official has been
able, by the prompt addition of a few thousand tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. to his
annual money-offering to the Shah, to avert disaster and to con
tinue with impunity in his career of maladministration.
That which is known as mudakhil from the point of view of
the recipient, is classified as pishkesh, or gift (lit. that which
Pishhesh leads on or comes before), from the standpoint of the
01 gifts donor. Every money-bribe, or gift, made to secure
a post or concession, to influence a judicial decision or to escape
punishment, falls under the head of pishlcesh. This mysterious and
elastic term, which includes every form of donation, from the con
tribution paid in by a governor-general to the fine exacted from a
petty delinquent, may be roughly divided into two headings : (1) the
fixed, regular, and open payments, prescribed by usage and
never relaxed; (2) irregular or extraordinary payments, made
or extracted as the opportunity occurs. Among the former
the most conspicuous are the so-called presents made at the festival*
of No Ruz, or the New Year, to the Shah. Every governor,
minister, chief of a tribe, or official of any rank, then makes his
offering, the minimum amount of which is determined bv custom,
and the maximum left to the means or ambition of the donor. As
Malcolm put it, to fall short of the accustomed sum means loss of
office, to exceed is increase of favour. In his day the sums thus