Coll 28/111 ‘Persia. Kermanshah – Political diaries.’ [‎47v] (95/751)

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acquaintances, which he has obviously no intention of doing. Most of t le oca
government devolved upon the weak shoulders of the Governor Mustashan, w o
continues to be well disposed towards us, but apparently incapable of carrying
out any of our recommendations. General Shahbakti remains in the backgroun
and piously declines to intervene in the civil administration; it is hard to ciedi
him with innocent motives, and possibly he has no wish to take any unpopulai
remedial action while he watches the said administration daily losing prestig^^
and ordinary respect in town and country. .
5. The unwanted Director of Finance, Majidzadeh, was very suddenly
replaced at the beginning of the month by Mr. Shams Nakhai, who is reputed to
be honest and intelligent, and who certainly has few illusions about the difficulties
of his task at present, or about the characters of the local landowners and
merchants who are out to thwart any attempts at proper efficient government.
Towards the end of the month Kermanshah at last obtained a mayor m the
person of Mr. Sharifi, an official from Tehran, who gives an impression of energy
and certainly has dealt straightway a few strokes of a new broom in the Augean
stables of the local municipality. He even ventured to confiscate some thousands
of hoarded eggs, but the only result was a strike of egg-sellers for some days
and higher prices than ever. .
6. A finance official from Ahwaz, named Ghulam Ali Khan Zanganeh,
managed to transfer himself here during the month and called on the consulate
to declare his unbounded loyalty. In the consulate’s opinion there are already
too many of the Zanganeh family benefiting in this district from the elevated
position of their obliging relative, the Amir-i-Kull, and as this new arrival
brought with him an undesirable reputation for pro-Nazi leanings he was soon
sent packing by our military authorities.
Food Supply.
7. The wheat question remains depressingly where it was a month ago, and
the combination of unprincipled landowners and corrupt local officials may be
said to have defeated the Tehran Government’s attempts to secure the proper
quota of grain at official prices. This consulate and its liaison officers have done
their best to improve matters, but have rather found themselves in the position
of a referee in a disreputable football match, with no whistle, no power to stop
the play, and no authority to send anyone off the field. All appeals either to the
local authorities or to the" Persian authorities in Tehran to apply their own laws
or to arrest even a handful of the known worst offenders have met with no
response, except more exhortations and empty threats. The result is that at the
end of September, with all the harvest gathered and threshed and largely hidden
away, the official Kermanshah stocks of wheat were under 350 tons, or less than
ten days’ supply for the town. In the smaller country towns the position is worse,
and in the midst of a wheat-growing district bread is either unobtainable at times,
or sold at three times or more the official rate. Meanwhile, Tehran circles are
insisting on their urgent need to take wheat for themselves from the areas a few
miles east of Kermanshah, and the local officials are insisting equally strongly
on their intention not to allow this to happen until local supplies for the winter
have been first collected—a slow and difficult task in present conditions. The
Tehran attitude is understandable, but would be more logical if they had done
anything at all effective during the last three months to see that the quite good
local harvest in other parts of the Kermanshah area had not been smuggled out
or hidden away under the eyes of their police, gendarmerie and military forces.
8. Following a certain amount of exhortation and reprimand from Tehran,
including a personal message from the Prime Minister, the local officials on the
15th September made a show of trying to force the recalcitrant landowners into
signing the undertakings to deliver their fair surpluses of wheat which they
should^have signed in August. Amid much moaning and protest, the landlords
signed for miserable quantities of between a tenth and a quarter of the amounts
assessed for each by the Finance Department, which in turn were, of course, less
than the real available amounts in proportion to the “ inducements ” proffered
to the official assessors beforehand. The trick, however, was so evident and so
unsatisfactory that even the Governor-General was forced to insist on larger
undertakings, possibly because it was foreseen that otherwise the local needs of
the town would not be met. No one, of course, pretends to care a rap whether
the needs of the capital and other unproductive parts of Persia will be assisted
in any way—unless these are willing later on to pay inflated black market rates
for the grain now being held back and hidden away. The uncontrolled price has
now risen so high (1,000 rials to 1.200 rials per kharwar) that it is repeatedly