Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎119r] (238/669)

deliveries are satisfactory and it is on].y the Alv
asejat area, were practically nothing has "been oo'
the last fortnight, that gives much anxiety.
.Z h;
.11-
•{ r\
as)
@
(13) Dr, Millspaugh’s regulations which made illegal all
movements of privately owned grain into the towns and forbade
the sale of bread or flour except in return for coupons caused
considerable panic amongst officials and public alihe*
The undertakings had been intended to provide grain not for
the entire population, hut only for those classes who, as the
result of having no private stocks or inadequate domestic
arrangements, normally used-the town bakeries and bread shops 6
The public gradually realised that there was little possibility
In practice cf the regulations being enforced generally'and
black market prices which had soared steeply on the publication
of the regulations gradually subsided. It is understood that
Mr. Solomon, the American adviser on food supplies in ICauzi^tan,
has recommended to Dr, Millsp&ugh that the towns of Khuzistan,
with the exception of Ahwas and Khorramnhahr, should he exempt
from the operation of the regulations on the very sound
undertakings had been received
arranged are underlined by the
1 the
7*0^
pen
sibility of
p •
i iTji '1
eg
the
re gu
1 ,. 4 .
S. O. u
ions
ccntemr
1 "t O d.
, he
ee ti
me s
a s '
much
grain- a
3
r r r h p
1 im i
o d o
ions
of the
S'
ippl
1 g: CJ
fact
f V, O -f
UiAcl m
in
Dizful with
: po
pH J+ClXf
■f >q
\j i. i
tons
grai
P Q
} ue ci
to t:
s rather
too
much
i fo r th
.0
ex i
s t i n g
ty
r er twe
are issued
me issued
uar
lyT
daily, surprisingly small amounts daily
and Ram Hormuz also without causing much
bread shops or anything excep t mild conrolaints
of barley in the mixture. The fact appears
towns a very considerable portion~~conceivably
portion —of the population has adequate private
is i(iore important, believes, to judge by the steady fal!
black market price of wheat, that the;
tain and replenish their stocks, (it :
in the areas where more of the undertakings have been fulfilled—
e*g. Ram Hormuz and Shushtar— the black market price of grain
is considerably lower that in areas like Dizful, where &s the
result of attempts by the Railways to take grain for theii
staff—compare para 13 of Ahwaz Diary for 15th - 31st Jul;/—
) p, {J 0 cr
110
n
.i.11
tne
n t s
3. D 0
'-i. A
>.jh
n
y /->>
»*D O
to b
e t
f.
he'.
t i
n •;
he
ibly
t h e
mi
1 o
u -
■v*>
i.
mate
Cl.tj
00
ks
anc
7/ha
4-
'j
.e gt
F' Q r i
\ J V
y
-f- .- , i
IU.U
1 1
n
V>
. be
a/o
le
to
yy\ 4i
in
-
‘haps
wo
y* T*
by
r -P
no
tha
k undertakings have not been
o Ralls in the black
market price definitely followed deliveries by landlords and
not vice versa.)
(14) The scheme for the part payment for wheat in barter hag
still not been introduced as no orders have yet been received
by the Customs to release sugar for the scheme. A certain,
friction arose on return of the Director of Finance from Tehran
where he professed to have understood that the scheme would not
be begun until all undertakings had been fulfilled. In fact,
even at the increased rate of progress of deliveries in the
Ahwaz area, the undertakings would not fulfilled until ploughing
for the next crop had begun. In the meantime grain has b-uen going
down the.Karun in such quantities as seriously to prejudice the
prospects of the sugar barter scheme when it does begin, ana
Mr, "olomon does not feel he has the legal powers, much less the
necessary organisation ana personnel, for stopping the movement
Of wheat to Xhorramshahr, until he is a position to establish a
government supply of bread for Khorramshahr.
(16) The problem of the excess of barley (see para 11 of Ahwaz
Diary for the second half of July) is no nearer solutions Indeed,
the Hindijan ''wheat 1 * is reported to contain 10% more barley than
the normal Khuzistan "wheat". If the sugar barter scheme is a success,
doubtless sufficient wheat will he acquired to redress the balance,
and apparently overtures made by the Finance Department to Tehran
•^faring to exchange exce.es barley for wheat