'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎467] (526/714)

INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS 4 6r
2,050 post-cards, 7,455 samples, and 173,995 parcels, having a
yaiue of 304,720/. The receipts for the same year were returned
as 13,764/., and the expenses as 13,298/. From England letters
go to Persia via Berlin, and under favourable conditions are de
livered in Teheran in a few days over a fortnight.
By a curious inversion of the customary chronology (most cha
racteristic of the East. Oriental potentates having a common passion
Electric for novelty, and electric light having preceded gas alike in
e egraph Korea and Kabul) ^ ^ ^ ^
full working order throughout Persia long before a decent letter-
post had been organised. The first experiment was made by the
Government in 1859, with a line from Teheran to Sultanieh; but
this was so badly constructed as to be soon abandoned. In 1860
followed a complete line from Teheran to Tabriz, extended in 1863
to Jul fa. At this period ensued the negotiations between the
British and Persian Governments that resulted in the passage of
the mam line of Indo-European Telegraph through Persia in transit
from London to Bombay. The history and the result of these
negotiations, which have profoundly affected the internal condition
of Persia, will more appropriately be discussed in a chapter dealing
with Anglo-Persian relations in the past and present; to which
accordingly I refer the inquisitive reader. Here it will be suffi
cient to say that the issue of these proceedings has been the
construction of a triple wire from Julfa to Teheran, worked by the
Indo-European Telegraph Company; and from Teheran to Bushire
worked by a staff of the Indian Government. In addition to these
ines Persia possesses some 3,000 miles of single wire lines, in a
more or less dubious state of repair, which belong to the Govern
ment and are worked by a Persian staff. The capital is now
connected with every city or centre of importance in the kingdom •
and the prodigious effect that this has had in the consolidation
o the sovereign power will afterwards come under notice. The
chief Persian lines, excluding local lines around the capital, are
those connecting Teheran and Meshed; Meshed and Sarakhs;
Meshed Kelat-i-Nadiri, and Deregez; Meshed and Kuchan;.
a iu , Astrabad, and Meshed-i-Ser; Semnan and Eiruzkuh ;
vm, Resht, and Enzeli; Resht and Khorremabad (Mazande-
ran frontier); Tabriz, Ardebil, and Namin; Tabriz and Suj
a ' ' ^arand, Khoi, and Urumiah ; Teheran, Hamadan, and
Khamkm; Hamadan, Sinna, and Gerrus; Hamadan, Burujird, and