'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.' [‎46r] (96/386)

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The reinstitution of a British telegraph station on Henjam and the almost
simuTaneous seizure hy the Persians of the Arab Islands of Tanb and Abu
Musa, which they were quickly compelled to relinquish, have already been
related ; but the subsequent position on Uenjam and certain proceedings which
took place in regard to the island of Sirri remain to he mentioned. The
Persians replied to the British action on Uenjam by the creation, towards the
end of 1901, of a customs post on the island, a step bitterly resented hy the
Arab inhabitants and compromising to the safety of the British telegraph
station in which the Persian customs officials took up their residence, practi
cally under the protection of the British flag. In February 1905 the Sheikh
of Henjam applied for British protection, and in October he renewed his request,
but no encouragement was given him to resist the lawful authority of the Per
sian Government. At the time of Lord Curzon's departure from India the local
situation on Henjam had not been satisfactorily regulated, hut negotiations
were in progress at Tehran with the object of securing a disposition of the
Persian Government buildings and flagstaffs by which the amenity of the British
telegraph station and the purity of its water-supply would he preserved-,
In 1904 the Persian Imperial Customs were anxious to establish a post on. the
Island of Sirri, the claims of Persia to which are not allowed by the British
Government, hut they desisted in consequence of a protest by the British
Minister at Tehran ; and a threat to open the question of the status ot Sirri was
partially instrumental in bringing about the withdrawal of the Persians from
Tanb and Abu Musa.
A number of unsettled claims by British subjects and hy subjects of the
Trucial Sheikhs who look to the British Government for redress are still pend-
ing in this part of Persia; the most important relate to losses sustained by
British subjects at the capture of Lingah, to the confiscation by the I crsian
authorities on the same occasion of date groves at Luigah owned by subjects
of Sharjah, and to the murder in 1902 of four subjects of Aim Lhabi y
natives of Tawunah. At the end of 1899 the amount of the outstanding claims
was about £20,000 and in 1901 a special Persian Commissioner was deputed
to Bushire to settle them : he remained at Bushire for a year without disposing
of any, and a new Karguzar appointed in 1903 was equally unsuccessful. A few
of the claims have been settled from time to time by the intervention of the
British Legation at Tehran, but the remainder and those of later ongin still
await adjudication.
In 1897 disturbances had prevailed in Persian Mekran, due principally to
scarcity and to Persian oppression; and,
Persian Mekran. though they had been suppressed and
though the murder of a British telegraph official near the coast had been aveng
ed by a Persian military expedition, while British Indian gan isons w
permanently installed at Jask and Chahhar, the position at the beginning of
iftOQ was still far from being satisfactory. The security of the Bntisn iana
teieo-ranh between Gwadur and Jask depends much less on the authority of the
Perlan Gov^ment than on the intlucoce of the British Government m
Mekran, and means had accordingly to he devised for restoring Lien ly
working relations with the people of the country ; also it was necessary
that the just claims of persons under British protection who had suffered m
disturbances of 1897, and still continued to suffer, should be satisfied.
In 1900 a redistribution of the subsidy paid to local chiefs for the .P rote °'
tion of the telegraph line was undertaken with the object of increasing t
share enjoyed by individuals whose help, though they did not rank as dis ric
chiefs G w as valuable. The allowances of the chiefs of Gaih and Dashtyan were
accordingly reduced, and the amount saved was devoted chiefly to subsidising
men of lessor importance who possessed influence in 1 tl ^. tra ^ t ^ C p tu S[ h Snow
ed bv the telegraph line. It is possible that the reduction of the Gaih allow
ance had an unfavourable effect on the attitude of the chief of that district, and
it affected adversely the interests of the Persian aTeoim of
were already in receipt of an annual subsidy of 3 000 i,"" an8 ,
the Mekran telegraph, had not scrupled to treat the Gaih alien ance as a
asset of the district and to enhance by an equal amount the revenue payable y