Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎174r] (348/669)

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20 APR 1844
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H.ivl. Consul-General visited Lizful on^ $th.
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2) . The Ustandar and Aqa Xhajavi, Chief Affair
toured liasjid-i-^ulaiman, ^hushtar and Ram Hormuz after the
Uoruz holidaysr
3 ), The Governor-General held the usual reception on
New Year’s Day to which British, American, Russian and Per
sian officials and officers were invited.
' 4 ), At Noruz, ^arhang Humayuni was promoted ^art-p
and Pasyar II Alhorz was made Pasyar I. several other
officers were promoted.
' 5 ) , it is reported that H.I.A. the ^hah was flovn hy
the Americans to Andimeshk on the 11th. On the 12th according
to a statement by the Governor-General he was flown to Gtwaz
and shown round the American Camp. His visit was secret and
the G-Overnor— General expressed surprise that the 0 hah should
visit Xhuzistan on two separate occasions and not make iis
presence known to the higher Government officials.
III. XCON QHIC.
^G), Grain collections now total over 21,000 tens. A
small quantity of wheat is «till being purchased from the
Janeki area* but it is unlikely that any further considerable
f quantity will be collected. There has been a severe drought
j in the centre and south of ;r .huzi-tan which will effect grain
I collections this year, and it is estimated that not more than
j 7Q00 tons will be the Government’s share. Difficulty i?
anticipated since Tehran wish to settle the price at C‘0C
j tome,ns a ton, that is to say 100 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. less than last years
figure. Neither do they v/ish the barter system to be employed.
L There\ is a possibility that if the Iraq price is consiierably
" ’"^iTIThre^^Xhan -300, 350 may be paid in Xhuzistan. It is thought
that collections and the surplus of last harvest colie;tions
will be sufficient to feed Ahwaz for the year.
Black market price of wheat has risen about 5 r b
Bazaar prices remain steady.
f.
<o
b), The Persian year which has just ended ha o seen
great changes in the finance Departments working in Xhuzistan.
Che outstanding achievement is Mr,°olomon’s success in the
collection of grain. He has re-organised the Department so
that the ehahristans report to him, whereas before they re
ported direct to Tehran, r Niis entailed lack of supervision
in the Province. He has started work in unravelling the chaos
cf the land revenue department, and has succeeded in getting
the accounts up to date. These were three years in arrears
and, of course, valuless, He has started a system of village
records. If he receives authority to settle land disputes
locally from his records the people will possibly th.nk it
worth while to develop their holdings, up to now th> highest
bidder could get some sg^t of document which had no legal
holding stating that he was the owner of an area of land.
i \ m »
IY. RAILWAY.
t ( 3 )
The transfer of the allotment of civil waggon space
io ivIf.°olomon has resulted in the smooth running of this
difficult branch of administration.