Coll 28/120 ‘Persia. Ahwaz – Consular diaries.’ [‎276r] (552/669)

AHo/m
6
But Colonel Algors hae served us well (provided it did
not run contrary to his own interests; and the first
step to have hin removed should not come from our side.
Ine longer however present officials remain, the less
1 ihely it would appear to "be, as the war approaches its
end, that v/e will he in a position to ensure decent
successors*
12. The otner departments are uninspiring. Co^ .
Shams Holh Ara assumed command of the Gendarmerie in
October, and although he himself is an active and plea-
ficer ne is r'mewhat impractical and the state
y the most ruthles
'ticuiarly
remedying it.
nancial )
ocl 02
nel
om
san w
the Gendarmerie ic that o
commander enjoying r »pport (pa
Teheran could have nuy nope of
Shams is now expecting to be transferal in the near
future. The Justice Department, under an aimaole sheep,
flounders among the snOals of Persian taw,
whose moon is silver in more than glitter.
Governor General has managed to revive the quite un
necessary pest of oai nandar of Ahwaz - no one knows how
'he incumbent passes hia time; and the inertness of the
municipalty gives ri to general complaint.
swayed by tides
The
13* There have been no signs of undue Russian
activity in the area. local opinion, needless to say,
attributes Tudeh party activity to the Russian Consulate
land it is true that ‘ •*s increased efforts coincided with
he arrival of the new jd^sisian Consul); but there is no
further evidence to support this. The Russian Trade
Delegation which has been trying to persuade local merchants
purchase Russian ^oods, have been generally criticised for
uaeir business methods. Relations'between this Consulate
and the Russian Consulate are very amicable, and both the
Consul and Vice Consul and their wives are working at
improving their English, with noticable success.
cture is no worse unan it was wnen
his last appreciation, although the
1 _ _ XI -
1 -« fne general
I^.-Col. Pletcher wrota h: ,
slate of the country as a whole seems to give less grounds
for the hope he expressed in his last sentence. The future
of Xhuzistan natural 1 y is dependent on the eventual fate
of the Central Government. If the latter does not become
considerably more capable and more lively to achieve some-
tning than at present, the only hope for the province,
will be from British initiative, whether that takes the
form of A.I.0.0. development, the pushing of British
commercial interests encouraging irrigation and agricul
tural development, or che indirect suasion of British
officers. Unless another autocrat appears in Teheran and
inspires organised xeraonobia over the whole country, there
is some hope that \r\ the south, British influence will
not siiiK to the dep v hr of the previous decade.
Unquestionably , few ro.'&^ans have any a:
(or for anything except themselves);
a number of petty, nasty
Ivar will try and mak
a:
‘^•Pecticn for
there will
tie officials who after
.fe difficult for us. But if
118
be
the
there is/