'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎251r] (506/610)

Trunk Lines.
These were constructed as the result of various conventions
and concessions since 1863 granted by the Persian Government.
By the terms of the present concession, which is in force until
1945, the Persian Government has a claim on | of the receipts
of all bond fide terminal messages, and the free use of one wire
reserved to them and utilized by the Persian telegraph Ad
ministration throughout the system. In return they grant
the right of transit for Indo-European telegrams across Persian
territory. The Persian Government have no control over
the Indo-European lines or administration and they must pay
for any 2 wilful damage caused by Persians to the telegraph
lines at a fixed rate.
The transmission of Persian internal telegrams over the
trunk lines, e.g., from Tehran to Tabriz, was discouraged except
by the wire made over to the Persian Telegraph Administration,,
as it caused local congestion on the lines to the detriment of
Indo-European traffic.
Until 1914 through non-stop messages were transmitted
from London via Tehran to Karachi. Communication was-
stopped through Germany in 1914 and cannot at present be
restored owing to the disturbed state of Russia.^ Telegrams
from Tehran for London are now transmitted via India, and
thence by the Eastern Telegraph Company’s cables.
Tehran is the meeting place of two systems, which -were
worked in conjunction.
(а) The Indo-European Telegraph Company’s lines from
London to Tehran.
(б) The Indo-European Telegraph Department s lines-
from Tehran to Karachi. The Department is a
British Government institution.
Both Company and Department worked with the Eastern
Telegraph Company on a Joint Purse Agreement.
IThe first direct telegraphic communication between Englana,
and India via Persia was effected in 1863, when the British i
i This wire is linked up with the Persian telegraph administration’s o%es„
which control traffic over it and transmit telegrams on the same rates and con
tions^ important proviso as much damage was at first caused by tribes
men especially in Azarhaijan, cutting the lines and shooting at the insulators.
Under the svstem of compensation the Persian Government recouped itself from
the provincial governors, who in turn exacted a larger amount from the villages-
of the culprits.