Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎18r] (36/669)

-2
$
throughout the province» Under the erd
Interior, half a dozen leading hoarders
<&)
to have been imprisoned
:>f the Minister of
Distill are reported
After hearing of the Eals-ut'-TU] t iai
incident, they settled down comfortably and were released after
twenty*-five days without producing any wheat.
The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s return into ohe
wheat market is producing curious results, A rumour that the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company were buying wheat reached Dizful on
?'th August and sent up the price of wheat from Rials 4,000 to
Rials 4,300 a ton. Eight merchants immediately tried to
comer all available wheat. Their rivals then started rumours
in the town that the eight merchants were buying the wheat
for export to the British forces and a riot was speedily
produced in the course of which Afsharin, one of the eight,
was severely handled and his house broken into. He was taken
into prove ctive custody by the police.
The Agricultural Syndicate’s installation at
Hamid ieh was inspected by Lie a si’s Le page and Bussey of the
Ailglo-1 rani an 011 Company on 11th August, m he machinery,
which was reported to bo in surprisingly- good condition,
consists of American, Russian and German units; thn
units are out
German
local re-Dcr
oi commission
work has been
lack of s
direction
jcurity in the area and the absence
for the last six months has more or
the syndicate.
spares. According to
•/ hampered by the
<j«:iCO of any responsible
less bankrupted
4.
nr
?C 1111 C 3 ,
Tho Governor General held a recaption or. 10th
August, the Id-i-Mab’ath, to which only Persians were invited.
The host's behaviour caused considerable heart ••'burning.
Apparently the Governoi'-Geneml^ on arrival failed to shake
hands with his guests and wento deliver a homily or. the
food situation, for which he Ul-omed the inefficiency of
officials. He then proceeded to cross -examine the Cffloor
Commanding .Annien about the alleged lack of security at
Dasht~i--rlishan and was very pi'operly informed cf son© of the
facts of the situation.
it may therefore be the Gcvernor-General’’s tact
lessness that is producing a cron of reports alleging that
the G-ovarnor-'G-enaral has started to extort bribes or. a large
scale- chiefly through the Director of the Municipality,
With wheat on the free market selling between Rials. 4,500
and Rials 5,000 a ton and bread at Rials 3.50 for three kilos,
a baker has a. margin of about Ria?vS 635 per ton, but this can
easily be doubled by tne use of false weights and adulterated
flour. It is reported that the sixty odd bakers of -.he town
have been obligee to pay Rials 200 each to the Director of the
Municipality. Similar demands are reported to have been
made from the butchers; they, however, were unable tc satisfy
the Director and six butchers' shops were closed down on the
following day 0 it is aj.so stated that the Governor-General
takes twenty to thirty tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. for the recommendation of a
is further reported to have
by British forces,
Contractor to the Americans and h
Summoned the contra
tors employ
The attempt to establish a rule of law in Iran
xlae interesting repercussions. The police were attempting
J° interrogate on© of the Ahv/az burglars? he steadily refused
V> talk and iinally astonished the police by saying ’’Take care,
Mukhoar.i i•-.? atnl in iail’‘. Apparently officials of the Courts
are inviting complaints from accused persons of "undue
pressure” by the police.
/! 6
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