Coll 28/111 ‘Persia. Kermanshah – Political diaries.’ [‎44r] (88/751)

4. a a#w attaint ant Oliiaf of ^aadanaaria name a oolonal iialal
iiej&cl haa Ju»t arrived here irom j hwaa and Khuratiiabad* He look a
and la a alek man and was formerly a military ox fleer who a&w
^orvice in Lur&iatan*
I
b s - "he a heat aiio breau ^ueatiua reaalae the ,>rincipai one in
thie diatriot i and ahowa little ai^na of elution* fhe large and
moderately-large laadoimera will not surrender their earplua wheat
or even aign undertakinga to do so, and ao far no one has ventured
to threaten them or make them do eo« A few email landowner a have
fciven undert&^inge to deliver the aaalleat po^aihle quantities,
hut their wheat will take a long time to arrive heoauae of the alow
commisalon* who must first examine their ca&e. /he Director of
Finance and Economics here admits that the host of hia oxfielala
who have been assessing crops and eatimatiag aurplueea in the
countryaide during the last six weeks or more have presented utterly
unreliable reports aad statistics, which he and a small picked
staff must go through and completely revise in order to obtain any
grain worth while. iith a *black market* price twice or more
than twice as high as the official purchasing price, the owners
have made sure of their position with bribes. j£V*& those who have
signed undertakings and are holding wheat at the disposal Si t>*«
Economic pepartmer&t, complain that th© latter shone no interest in
collecting it, but says that a commission must go into the matter.
Meanwhile the gram remains in the open, ready to be stolen in many
areas by marauding kurds, or to be hidden away or sold to hoarders
unuer the pretext that it has been stolen. The dishonesty and
atmosphere of corruption ana deception which prevails therefore
stultifies collection even when wheat is available. i eanwhile
warmsnehah and even smaller centres hardly have enough bread for
their dally needs, and nobody apparently gives a thought W the
needs of the capital and other parte of the country • uring the
month there have boon bread riots at fshave<id, ^alaylr, /Uisadabad
and Xurina, ail small centre* in wheat-producing «r^as.
The position in Xermsnshah has been such that there would probably
have been riots had it m&t been for the proximity of large British
forces, who it was thought might intervene to prevent disorder, and
had not our alibical adviser persuaded or virtually obliged the
u over nor to visit the ba cries personally and have the worst
bakers summarily dealt with and their shops closed.
6. Previously monthly reports have described the bakers 9
malpractices in adulterating flour, half-baxin^ tr^e bread and
giving short weight, but until this mild British intervention
none of the officiale would do anything to remedy matters. They
have now apparently seen however the burst of pro-pritish feelin e
which our action caused aman*. the populace and so art seriously
propoeiag to take some steps themselves to maintain the improve
ment so quickly brought about when a little iimneae wee shown.
The bakers moan that they enmot produce bread at a profit at the
official price, yet those whose ba.erics have been cioaed are known
to have offered nearly jtMOO in bribes to one official In one nay
for pemission to reopen. The authorities knew and have knewn ior
saonths that the whole question needs examination uuu re-or^anisation,
but are not sure whether they should refer to Tehran first or not,
and ao nothing is doM # ' 7
7. hile according to the oificiai regulations published in
Tehran /