'Volume I. MEMORANDA REGARDING PERSIA AND NORTH-WEST TRANS-FRONTIER. 1905.' [‎50v] (105/310)

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the Imam-i-Juraa—who are not likely to
refund them.
Recent reports of the state of the Bushire-
Shiraz road are so far satisfactory that no
robberies would appear to have been com
mitted.
12. M. Passek (the Russian Consul-
General, Bushire) invited 46 “ bazzaz” (cotton-
drapers) to a picnic on 17th October to meet
Prince Anatouni, who is said to have come on a
commercial mission {vide paragraph 15 of
Memorandum for October 1905), but the
Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. *i-Akram (the Governor-Generals
Vazier) forbade the men from going without
his permission. M. Passek thereupon called
officially on the Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. , and said he had com
plained against him to his Legation. The
Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. spoke to Mr. Grahame (His Britannic
Majesty’s Consul) on the subject, and asked
whether M. Passek had any right to hold such
meetings without reference to him. M. Passek
had not even notified Prince Anatouni’s arrival
to the Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. . The Sardar’s attitude towards
Mr. Grahame appears to have undergone a
favourable change as a result of M. Passek’s
action. Prince Anatouni left for Ispahan and
Tehran on 1st November.
13. Mirza Ibrahim, the leading Mujtahid
(Mulla) of Shiraz, holds a “ Rozakhani ”
meeting every Thursday evening at his house.
At that held on the 19th October, there was
an unusual concourse of people, including a
hand of over 500 women, who presented peti
tions against the Governor-General’s usurpation
of their property.
14. One of the leading merchants of
Shiraz recently approached Consul Grahame
with a complaint that the Russian Consul-
General w as scheming to ruin the larger Persian
merchants in Shiraz, firstly, by establishing a
Russian Trading Bank ; secondly, by bringing
the Russian firms into direct relations with
the retail dealers in prints, &c. Mr. Grahame
pointed out that the Russian Bank, if estab
lished, might prove a blessing, and help to
develop trade; that so far from opposing it,
the Imperial Bank of Persia would welcome
it; that the Shiraz merchants would do w ell
not to cry out before they w ere hurt;
that the Russians, with their incapacity
for business, would cut their own throats;
that if they did flood the market with cheap’
prints, the Shiraz merchants might, in the last
extremity, adopt some such method as ap
pealing to a Mujtahid to declare Russian
prints unclean on account of the way they are
dyed. The sting in the tail of this advice
appeared to be highly acceptable. Other
Shiraz merchants complain that there is a
marked falling off in the amount of teas
(which they used to handle) imported from the