File 1187/1914 Pt 2 ‘Persia – Policy. British Interests in the South. Russian Policy’ [‎234r] (215/300)

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Pat away with
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. Cf.-ii5, dated Bushire, the 12th (received 22jid) August
F rom MAJOR S. G. Knox, C.I.E., Officiating Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian
Gulf,
jo The Foreign Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign and
Political Department, Simla.
l have the honour to forward, for the information of the Government of
NO. C»p-.-46. dated sod Hr, from Hi, India, a copy of the marginally cited des-
Majetcy’s Vice-Consul, AhwaZ, (Camp Ispahan) to
His Majesty’s M nister, Tehran.
Lynch Road.
^ J V * VUV* ’7
patch, received from His Majesty's Vice-
Consul, Ahwaz, on the subject of the
Camp No. 1-46, dated 2nd July 1914.
From—Captain J. RANKING, I. A., His Brittanic Majesty’s Vice-Consul and
Assistant Resident, Ahwaz,
To— His Excellency Sir Walter, Townley, K C.M.G., His Majesty’s Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Imperial
Majesty the Shah of Persia, Tehran.
I have the honour to address Your Excellency on the subject of the Lynch
Road. I had intended to submit this report directly on arrival in Ispahan, but
have been prevented by more pressing work.
The subject resolves itself into several heads, which I will deal with sertattm.
1. Road Surface.—] regret to say that the road is worse than I have ever
before seen it. The attached Schedule, No. I, shows the places where repair,
diversion, or attention, is imperatively necessary. I use the word advisedly, for
had I said necessary 1 should have had to mention almost every mile of the hill
section. The road is in an awful state and its difficulty is testified to by the
numerous skeletons and corpses of transport animals of every kind, in all stages
of nauseous decay, which strew the hill section.
2. Caravanserais and FoWs.-Had anybody taken the trouble to climb up to
the "forts” and to inspect the caravanserais, about which so much has been
written in despatches during the last couple of years, the absolute futility of te
former and the inadequacy of the latter would have been exposed at a glance.
Both “ forts ” and caravanserais are but such in name, having no being whatever.
Schedule II shows the "forts” and the degree of their futility in detail suffice it
to say here that one is a heap of ruins, another is merely an u .^ n ‘ sh ® d b n ®f‘j
work’with neither door nor roof, one is so hopelessly commanded at a r g
600 yards from surrounding hills as to be absolutely .untenable, the rnajonty
are so far removed from water as to render the garrison liable A e r ^ u ,
straits for water in a very few hours, there not even bemg any provis on for stonnp
either food or water. The caravanserais are little better. Schedu ' e ^
state in detail, their owners and their leasing value per annum. Malam, caravan
serai is good and in good repair, all the rest are in all stages of disrepair, decay,
and consequent inadequacy.
3. Supplies and /Wrfer-Famine prices rule throughout the Hill secfon.wkh |
consequential inflation of hire rates, and subsequent hampering “ u *
111 gives, in the form of a comparative table, the rise m prices from Arabistan to
the hill section and thence the decrease to the Chahar Mahal end of the road-
the unit remaining constant throughout.
There are various causer giving rise to these high prices, fi r f'lnd^is'let
tem itself. Each serai belongs to a separate Khan or p At the end of
out by them for a large sum of money annually to a a •
the season, on one pretext or another, the owner fines the lessee a ' arge ^ ( hese
pockets the cash. It will be, therefore, seen that in order to cover ^these
heavy drains on his resources and also to make is quo , Another is that
exorbitant rates for supplies. This is the primary cau e. Another >s tha
the 11, when migrating use this road and make free , with the young mops,
to the detriment of the ultimate outturn. Anot er is
C98FD
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' IV
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15 OCT 1914,t,
4 /
India, i FtL.ud Secretary’s
No 38 M, dated
17 SEP 1914
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