File 2297/1919 ‘Persian Gulf Residency Monthly Reports. 1912-20.’ [‎508v] (1021/1044)

fight, and killed two or three of their assailants, but finally about 8 jelowdars
were killed or wounded and the rest ran away.
British owned goods to the value of about 3,000 Rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. were carried off.
The robbers are said to be the followers of Ali Mullah Saffi. Goods to the value
of about Rs. 600 have been recovered as owing to the donkeys being killed the
robbers did not carry them off.
1149. On the 27th November, news was received from Khamir that some
A rms traffie. 15 Ewazis and Bastakis of Bandar Abbas
had left there with a large consignment of
arms loaded on camels and donkeys en route to Mahtabi about 50 miles from
Bandar Abbas. In the evening some tofangchis and the Customs launch left
for Gachin. On the following morning reports were received that the Ewazis
and Bastakis had stored the arms in a fort near Shahrue (y<^) about 12
miles north-west of Bandar Abbas and about the same distance from the coast,
and had fired at the tofangchis. Reinforcements of 20 tofangchis under one of
the Customs officials were accordingly despatched. In the evening further
news was received that the followers of Mullah Nasir, Mir Shams-ud-din’s
employe at Gachin, had left for Shahrue. The Director of Customs thereupon
ordered some sailors off the “ Persepolis ” to proceed to Shahrue, who on their
way there under the command of Monsieur Pater, a Dutch Customs emplove,
met the tofangchis who had already been sent out, returning : it subsequently
transpired that they had surrounded the men who had the rifles and could from
all accounts have easily starved them out, or at any rate held them pending
the arrival of re-inforcements instead of which they without any ostensible
excuse let them go. Monsieur Pater and his party proceeded to Shahrue, but
by the time they arrived the arms had of course been removed. The head of
the tofangchis, one Mahsud Khan, has been dismissed from the Customs where
he was employed. There seems to be little doubt that several local Ewazi
merchants were interested in the arms, and that the Deputy Governor passively,
if not actively, connived at their escape. It is estimated that there were about
100 rifles and 12 boxes of ammunition : they were said to have been. disposed
of in the district of Kowristan to the north-west of Bandar Abbas.
1150. The Russian S.S. “ Tigre ” arrived from Basrah on the 9th December.
Foreign interests. Tlle Governor issued instructions
that she was to be boycotted, and she was
neither allowed to land nor take on cargo, and left almost immediately.
1151. On the 12th, the day of His Majesty’s Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). at Delhi, the Consulate
Miscellaneous. an(1 houses of many British subjects in the
town were decorated. A reception was
held at the Consulate in the afternoon which all the Persian officials, leading
merchants and British subjects attended. In the evening the Consulate was
illuminated and a fireworks display given in the town.
Kerman and Bam.
3rd November to 7th December.
1152, (a) With reference to paragraph 1079 (c) the Baluchis are still in
Condition of country. the neighbourhood of Eahraj, east of Bam,
and Rifat-i-Nizam is with them. About
the beginning of November Khan Muhammad Khan suggested that Hishmat-
ul-Mamalik, nephew of Akram-es-Sultaneh, should come to Narmshir to negO’-
tiate. Hishmat-ul-Mamalik went there with his uncle, Nasir-i-Nizam (brother
of Akram-es-Sultaneh) and Khan Muhammad Khan made an unsuccessful
attempt to seize them, and they fled to Bam by night. The Baluchis have
killed 5 .of Akram-es-Sultaneh’s camel drivers, driven off his camels and set
fire to his. henna near Burj. Hishmat-ul-Mamalik has gone from Bam to
Burj and is now besieged there by the Baluchis who are attempting to capture
the fort, which belongs to Akram-es-Sultaneh.
W Th 0 Kerman officials are doing their best to get into communication
with Rifat-i-Nizam who is regarded as the cause of all this trouble, and are