'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎155r] (314/610)

realize owing to the impossibility of export to Russia, and
is consequently unable to meet its current liabilities.
6. Khustaria Concerns. —Mr. Khustaria, a native of Tiflis,.
has interested himself in electric lighting and other ventures at
Enzali which have not proved successful. The narrow gauge
railway from Rasht to Pir-i-Bazar is his Concern, and he main
tained a service for passengers and merchandise between Enzali
and Rasht by the Murdab route. He also acquired from the
Russian Road Company a lease to enable him to start a motor
service from Enzali to Tehran, but the enterprise was not taken
in hand and the rights are believed to have lapsed.
In 1916 he obtained from the Persian Government impor
tant concessions for the discovery and exploitation of petroleum
deposits and of minerals in the Caspian provinces, and he is at
present in Europe seeking capital to develop these concessions.
An agent was prospecting on his behalf in the Hazar Jarib
district of Mazandaran in the spring of 1920, but no work had
been started.
7. Forests.—Some Russian Companies were exporting timber
and box wood from Mazandaran but this industry is at present
at a standstill owing to the impossibility of export to Europe
via, the Caucasus, or to Russia.
D.—Products.
Mineral deposits abound in the Elburz, and in Khamseh and Minerals.
Khalkhal. Some of them have been tentatively surveyed and
primitively worked on a small scale by Persian proprietors or
foreign lessees, but none scientifically developed.
The difficulty of promoting any industry in Persia owing to
the apathy, suspicion, and greed of officials and inhabitants,
the severe winter, and still more the absence of cheap and easy
means of transport, especially in the Elburz, and in Khamseh
and Khalkhal the absence of fuel and water, make exploitation
costly and difficult.
Elburz Area.
Mazandardn .—The province of Mazandaran is the richest
in minerals.
In the Nur district coal and iron are found in close proximity
in the foothills and valleys of the Northern slopes of the Nur
ridge behind the village of Dar Kalah within 20 miles of the
Caspian coast, and about the same distance from the town of
Amok