'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎620] (689/714)

62 0 PERSIA
biidges ; and, according to the reports that I received, the rolling-
stock consisted only of a dozen uncovered trucks and one loco
motive, driven by an African negro, which had either blown up
01 broken down, and traffic was at an absolute standstill. The
original project was to continue the line from Amol with a horse
tramway to the foot of the mountains. Whether anything will ever
be made of a further projection is doubtful, owing to the steepness
of the mountain range that supervenes. Haji Mohammed Hasan,
the Master of the Mint, is evidently a man of some energy, as the
large works, with machinery for timber-cutting and sugar extraction
which he has set up at Amol, testify. But that he is qualified to
be the pioneer of successful railway enterprise in Persia is open to
serious doubt.
A t the time of my visit in the autumn of 1889, a Russian
named alashkofski, of the Transcaucasian Railway, was on the
Further hunt for railw ay concessions, and was said to have
sTonT 8 ' * ucceecied in procuring one for a line from Gazian on the
. I,jnzel i lagoon to Resht. I have heard nothing further of
the project which, I imagine, has found its way to the well-filled
imbo of the Persian still-born. Soon after, in 1890, two Russian
contractors, M. Raffalovitch, formerly Persian Consul at Odessa,
and M. ohakoff, appeared upon the scene, and advanced a colossal
scheme of railroad and custom-house monopoly. Lines from
u a ma leheran to Bunder Abbas, from Julfa to Mohammerah,
from Julfa to Teheran, and from Teheran to Meshed, are said to
have been successively discussed. The negotiations did not even
reac i as precocious a stage of development as have so many of
leir predecessors; and the disappointed contractors finally retired
wi Hothmg better than a concession for a mont-de-piete or a
national pawn-shop on a large scale in their pockets. This insti
tution has since opened its doors at Teheran, and besides lending,
undertakes banking business also; being evidently designed as a
sort of Russian counterblast to the British Imperial Bank.
e narrative which I have here compiled of the history of
railway concessions in Persia will have given some idea of
Summary ^ le ^^acles with which such undertakings have to
meS^" COntend - The reactionary party in Persia, with whom
i • , e mulInhs usually side, are opposed to any innovation
w nch may tighten the grip of Europe upon their country, and
hasten the end of their lengthy but inglorious reign. Even if