Coll 28/111 ‘Persia. Kermanshah – Political diaries.’ [‎79v] (159/751)

^ a wn + K v>r>iv^ps• The local director must be an ob ject
oFenvy indeed. Lorry drivers are said to go off with
nartlv-loaded trucks covered by waybills, and then
make money handsomely on filling up the gaps with private
goods. The profit on moving ghee from here to Tehran
is 40 rials per kilogram, so a merchant who can send
onlv half a ton of it gains £160. The ? various control
posts along the route each have to be squared , o.
course.
15. Transactions between merchants in certain
rroods such sb sugar and tea, in which stocks have to
be declared monthly, however fictitiously, now have to
be carefully transcribed in their books, owing to s. me
nervousness of possible Government action later. A
cheque is drawn for the purchase pric e calculated -t
the official rate, and the balance is paid in cash to
avoid written records. This trick is said to have been
recommended from Tehran recently. In practically no
cases are goods sold at the official prxces, and many
commodities are no longer priced m the fortnightly
Municipal printed list, as the mockery seems to be too
great even for Persian acceptance*
CHARITABLE RSLUSff.
16* This Consulate, under the aegis of the Anglo-
Iranian Relief Committee" in Tehran, has been feeding
over one thousand persons a day in the poorest quarters
with soup and bread sold at half-cost. About a hundred
people a dev are fed gratis by means of coupons distributee
by certain iiullahs. Many shirts and cotton trousers have
been given to the poorest and most naked seen in the
streets, @ and 25 cotton suits distributed in the prison,
where several prisoners were found completely naked
except for a thin ptt>ce of blanket and many others
nearly so.
17. After much persuasion from the Consulate q nd
vigorous action by the Political Adviser, the very
badly-run Persian Poor-centre is being reorganised. „he
funds had been exhausted at a remarkable rate,
considering the meagre amount of good being done, hlle
£arge number of well-to-do residents f ^clined to pay
promised subscriptions totalling about £^,000 in all.
The local officials having failed to remedy matters,
the Political Adviser interviewed certain leading
defaulters and obtained more than that sum within a :e
days. As has been repeatedly said, the modern demoralised
and disillusioned Persians only require a firm lead and
firm handling, which 90^ of them would welcome, but m
the important things we and the Russians seem to have to
stand aside and decline to give it, vhile it is
practically certain that the Americans will not give
it either*
PROPAGANDA