Coll 28/10(2) ‘Persia; Diaries; Meshed Consular June 1940; Khorassan Political; Khorassan Fortnightly Reports’ [‎85r] (169/1297)

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the Democrats all gave their energies to the task, conceal
ing their obvious Bussian backing undorr: a thin veneer of
nationalism. Tudeh leaders were conspicuous in Meshed
after the closure of the Tehran headquarters of the Hi zb ?
and during October and November there was a great coming
and going of Tudeh members and a constant streak of speech-s
by Tudeh and Democrat. There were few speakers who did.
not reserve substantial parts of their talk for vilification
of ' l capitalist Britain and her traitorous hirelings ’ ana to
a lesser extent the Americans* The more serious prop^g^naa
of th - Tudeh Party has always be-n supplemented by dramatic
burlesques ridiculing the Persian officials, the Maj.liSj
Syed Zia and American and British capitalists.
Boononio.
I'6 0 Thorr was no appreciable fall in the prices of
general commodities during the period under review, out
on the othr^r hand the prices of some foodstuffs like m
tea, sugar and rice has ; risen. Wheat sowings were plentiful
and price of bread has shown no increase. The worst aspect
of th? economic situation is th- anticipated rise in tht
price of wheat and bread, which seems to be pa rt of a
widespread shortage. The position is aggravated by the
increasing unemployment.
17. foreign imports into Persia were insignificant^ and
included mainly American crockery, cotton goous and haber-
dashery in small quantities, ana also Bussian glassware,
china and cloth. It was anticipated that there would be
r, large increase in imports from India after the war, but
up to the time of writing export trade restrictions arc
still in force. It is unfortunate that at a time when
Indian commodities could find a huge market in Persia, the
supply position does not yet permit of large-scale imports
from India, Moreover, Indian traders in Bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location. Persia, some
of whom were Established before the first world war are
being badly hit. by 'one Indian Government * s policy of
giving licences to India-based firms<,
.h goods which
reason given
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301'
IS. There is a great demand lor Bntm
are considered better than Americano The
this is that goods recently received from *ohe UAS#A. desorioc-u
as second quality in the invoice and charged for.acca dmg ly
were on arrival found to be third or fourth quality and in
a great number of cases had to be disposed-of at -a loss c On
the other hand British goods recently received invoiced as
second quality (first quality not at present available(J hav c
on arrival/found to be nearly first quality. This is gooa
propaganda for British goods and the honesty of British
suppliers. Another item against American goods is the
present high rate of t he .American dollar on the open market.
It is now 54 rials (Persian) to one dollar (.^mericun) against
the official rate of 32 rials. The dollar was recently as
high as 67 rials. This makes American goods very expensive e
The open market of the pound sterling is said to be
fluctuation between 140 and 160 rials as against the official
rate of 128.
Bo ads Sc Communications.
19. Boad security in East Persia showed no improvements
The Meshed-^fthidan roaa which had been maintained by the
British military authorities when it was a route for lend/
lease goods to Mussia was handed back to the Persian autho
rities during- th- period under report. After the handing
over brigandage betwe-n Meshed and Turbat-i-Haidari was for
a time on the increase and all motor traffic between sunrise
and sunset was forbidden unless made in convoy and escorted
by gendarmerie. Among the incidents on roads in East Persia
were a frold-un of a lorry near Zahidan, and three hold-ups in
October/-