'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.' [‎124v] (253/386)

Confirmation of this report was obtained in October when the IIashmat*ul-
Mulk was told (paragraph 47) that, unless he paid the Government’s share of the
produce at a rate higher than that at which it had been hitherto accepted, the whole
quantity, 1,500Tabriz Kharwars (the Tabriz Kharwar=6501bs.), would be sold to
the Russian Bank. No time was lost in intervening, and, on ‘'5th October 1903,
Mr. Grant Duff, acting on instructions from Lord Lansdowne, addressed the
Persian Government a note saying that the threatened sale of the revenue
grain of Seistan to the Russian Bank was a proceeding which would, in the
opinion of His Majesty’s Government, give the Russian Bank a share in the
administration of the revenue of Seistan, and would disturb the commercial and
political status quo prevailing in that province, which it was equally the
interests of the British and Persian Governments to maintain. The Mushir-
ed-Dowleh was therefore urged to send stringent orders to the Governor-
General of Khorasan prohibiting the sale, and Mr. Grant Duff desired to be
placed in a position to reassure Lord Lansdowne with regard to the matter.
The Mushir-ed-Dowleh denied the truth of the report. AVliat, however,
was really taking place it was not easy to ascertain.
On the one hand, the Persian Government asserte 1 positively that there
never had been any question of the sale to the Bank, and issued stringent
orders that the grain was not to ho disposed of, directly or indirectly ; while
the Governor-General of Khorasan denied e nphatically that any communica
tion had taken place with the Hashmat-ul Alulk on the subject. On the other
hand private letters sent to the Hashmat-ul-Mulk from Me died came in to the
possession of Colonel McMahon, proving that the sale was being negotiated
on behalf of the Bmssian Bank by the Governor-General’s Vizier through the
Beis-ut-Tujjar, and in January 1904 an agent of the Muavin-ut-Tuj jar parsed
through Tu bat on his way to Seistan to take over the grain. The Persian Prime
Minister, however, persisted in his assertion that no wheat had been sold to the
Bank, although he admitted that they had been given permission the previous
summer to export some 150 or 200 kharwars of barley—an explanation which,
though quite inadequate to account for what was goinir on, was of interest
in view of the rigid prohibition of exports in the case of travellers for India
by the Nushki trade route.
Meanwhile evidence continued to accumulate that the sale had actually
been carried out, and that delivery would be taken unless peremptory orders
were received from Tehran prohibiting it, and on 21st March one Abdul
Karim, who was said to be the agent of the Muavin-ut-Tujjar, arrived at
Nasratahad, where he was met by the Manager of the Seistan Branch of the
Russian Bank, and was housed in the residence of a Peshkhidmat of the Russian
Consul. On 25th March 1904 Sir A. Hardinge telegraphed that peremptory
orders had been sent to the Acting Governor of Saistan prohibiting the sale
of the grain to Abdul Karim, or any other representative of the Russian Bank.
It was fortunate that the prohibition was made general, as it was subsequently
stated that the “ farah ” or receiving order had been issued to one Ali Asghar
as agent of the Muavin-ut-Tujjar.
58. The prohibition was obeyed. The Local Government refused to deliver
the revenue grain to Abdul Karim and he left Seistan in August 1904, having
been dismissed by the Russian Bank for his failure to obtain it. Nothing further
was heard regarding this mysterious matter until the 22nd May 1905, the very
v eek when Colonel McMahon’s Mission left Seistan when His Majesty’s Consul
General, Meshed, reported “ on good authority ” that the Seistan crown lands had
been sold to the Amiu-i-Zarb and the Reis-ut-Tujjar, two wealthy Meshed mer
chants; and that the purchase money was being obtained by them from the
Russian Bank. The Government of India immediately reported the matter to
the Secretary of State and the Minister, pointing out that the transaction would
he practically tantamount to the Seistau lands passing into Russian hands if the
purchase money were borrowed from the Russian Bank and suggesting that
the strongest protest should be made against such a violation of the spirit of
assurances given by the Persian Government.
The Mushir-ed-Dowleh, on the 30th May 1905, denied all knowledge of
the transaction and said that it was impossible, as the consent of the Persian