'SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS AND MEASURES OF THE VICEROYALTY OF HIS EXCELLENCY LORD CURZON OF KEDLESTON, VICEROY AND GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA IN THE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. I. JANUARY 1899-APRIL 1904. II. DECEMBER 1904-NOVEMBER 1905. VOLUME IV. PERSIA AND THE PERSIAN GULF.' [‎24v] (53/386)

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msnihandMe within the Persian H w ^ ic h their goods were brought or
frequently impossible^ of . , tere ^ Penal regulations were enforced
the post by which their re D WO uld have been uniustified even if the
with a rigour and ^^^X oSisId Cu^toins were levied on the flocks
system had been ino ^ prnqse( i the Persicn border in their search
of noutad Afghans and Baluchi who Closed the re.s.an D h j t th0
for pasture. Attempts were X^EHtish Consul! The presence” of a British
benefits of intervention y ^ p VO vided a peculiar opportunity for insult
Mission on the I^-Afghan torder^provP^ Supplie8 were
and annojance. 1 P‘ / © . , i, impounded. Imputations were levied
seized and the beasts w n h ^XT‘* ^rthTeeutre of a wholesale illicit traffic;
W atte^ptTrre ^dVto provf That the Sion was the cause of scarcity
and famTne, while crops lay uncut in the fields and cultivators were unable to
find a market for their produce. , „ ^
Nor was the sphere of Belgian activity confined to pure y Customs measures.
Posts passports? and quarantine were in their charge, and the management of
each became in Belgian hands a source of annoyance and a means of
obstruction. In 1900, the Persian Government had piescnbed a system
cost ruction, xn w hich required that every foreign traveller
The passport system. should own a passport bearing the
visa of a Persian Consular official, or of a Passport Officer m Persia.
In 1902, the rules were revised, and the fees were enhanced. Ordinary
travellers were required to pay a charge of 12 krans 12 shahis, and labourers
and porters a fee of 4 krans 10 sbahis, for the msa of their passports. In
August 1903, the Persian Government determined to apply the orders on the
Seistan border, and deputed a Passport Officer for the purpose. Hie introduc
tion of the system among the ignorant Paluclns and Afghans, who foimed the
bulk of foreign travellers in Seistan, was obviously a matter requiring the
exercise of considerable tact: under Russian influence the rules were enforced
with an unreasoning severity which added a fresh impediment to British
trade. The newlv-appointed official had hardly assumed his duties, ulien lie
called upon the Governor to assist in requiring the members of Co onel
McMahon’s Mission to take out passports. The Governor declined his help,
and the attempt was abandoned. But no opportunity was lost of insisting on.
the new procedure in the case of Afghans visiting the Mission camp. 1 lie tee
itself was burdensome; and the levy of the due was made a constant source of
hardship and annoyance to British traders in Seistan and to merchants and
carriers arriving from India. The first incumbent of the post of Passport
Officer was soon dismissed. It is a suggestive fact that he was at once taken
into Russian employ. For a time the service remained in abeyance. But it
was soon revived under the auspices of the Belgian Customs Administration.
Thenceforward the possession of passp orts was enforced with renewed vigour.
Every Afghan who crossed the border on a casual visit to the Persian side
was required to take out a passport and to pay the full fee. By an informal
arrangement, M. Molitor subsequently consented to exempt from the charge
all Afghans other than bona fide traders or travellers. But the existence of
the rule supplied the underling officials posted on the frontier with oppor
tunities of extortion, of which they were not slow to avail themselves. It is
W( rthy of note that General Schindler, Chief of the Passport Bureau at Tehran,
informed a member of His Majesty’s Legation that the accounts of the
Department for the province of Seistan showed a deficit of £1,400 in a single
year.
The attitude of the Belgian officers made the position of the British
Consul one of great difficulty. The
interests of British trade and the mainte
nance of British prestige required an
unremitting watchfulness and frequent intervention. During this period the
post of Consul was held successively by Major Benn, by Mr. Dobbs, by Captain
Ramsay, and by Captain Macpherson. Each of these officers went to Seistan
animated by a desire to remain on good terms With the Belgian and Russian
Relations of the British Consul
the Belgian officials.
With