Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎203r] (406/669)

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(14;* Some time ago there were
quality oi‘ the bread, due to the fact tha
tent had been raised to 50^. The populat
come, resigned to eating it, au ( ’ those who
'•free baKery’ 1 bread, which is of good •quu"'ity but costs c
Rials per kilo as against 5 Rials per xculo tor uover/oient
controlled bread-.*
(l5jo The grain situation in Knujsistan see-u, be" • e
than was at one time thought# This yearbs uni
\wheat crop is estimated as 25% lower than last
! in spite of this there is sufficient grain for
i of the towns until the next harvesto There u
u*ig itea
year f s, but
the nee 0.0
» ceen traub
ovei* the release ex' sugar by the xuiwaz Oust an e, who <re
holding up i,3uu tons of sugar destined for the dinauce
Depai'tment for immediate distribution* -The director of
finance is now issuing SOU t^us of sugar and TO tons of tea
a month in Khuaistan* In Adult ion to the towns, X&# supplies
are regularly reaching 40,000 people in the villages of
Snushtar area, 3o,ouo in the busht-i-Mishan area
ane l ever a
"1 he
thousands of villagers in tb*r Jizful. area* In u
supplies 6uU,000 people and hopes to increase gIiIb f i ;ure
to 8oO,0uO in the next two months* Although the recipients
probably give more credit to the American Mission tunu to
the Persian Government, at the sane time this means that
one large source of complaint from the peasants against the
Government has been removed# Hr* Solomon has been agreeably
surprised that in the Arab areas, under his system of /.land
ing over a village 's supply to the elders of the vii"age,
all the people appear to be receiving their fair snare,
recent months £10,000 persons in Kliuzietan have rccerwea
3 metres of cloth each# It is estimated that in two months *
time a further 300,000 persons will have reoeivuu a sim
ilar issue# The Beni Turuf Arabs arey however, Tee ■. x.e if-. •
and have despatched telegrams to Tehran complaining tin t:,o;
have received no cloth# A surprise check of tne su c; nr .u
tea coupons issued in Ahwaz was made by the Pinauce bn.,- n't-
5,800 11
' ega
neia coupone
u re
i»3;
1
ment, with the result that
cancelled# The number of coupons issued now stniids at
53,000# In the All Gudgrz district of Burujird it is
estimated that undertakings for lu,O-uO tons of grain wiln
be collected as against 2,70o tons 1st year. The harvest
this year is by no means 60 fcood but last year the local
food officials took heavy bribes from the landlords, besides
selling sugar intended for the peasantry, five of these
officials are now under trial, including the head of the
itharbar, whose assistant was a brother of M&jor Al i Khan
jAfladvant (see para 3 of this biary j and has so far escaped
arrest owing to his brother's local influence* In the
other districts of Burujird and in T urietan the collection
of undertakings is satisfactory and the Area Adviser hopes
that in r uristan actual collectio.-iS will be three times
those of last year. There are 7oo tons of grain in the
Government stores in Hhorrambad and collection will, it is
estimated, be in the neignbourhood of 2,000 tons# In
Rurujird at the beginning of June 2,000 tons of grain were
in hand, of which 500 tons were sent to Tehran during, the
month and 500 more are due to go this month. It ie estimated
tliat collections will slightly exceed 4,000 tone, which is
about double the amount collected last year* Undertakings
are coining in satisfactorily. Complaints have been received
from the Kakavand tribes that they had received no rations
of tea, sugar or cloth for eight months* This state of
affairs seems to be prevalent in r uristan and All Gudarz,
where the lack of rations was said by the Area Adviser to be
’ • /interfering