Letters and Papers Concerning the Trans-Persian Railway and Other Railways in Persia [‎147r] (293/442)

1947 Supply (Committee). 10 July 1912
Foreign Office. 1948
arms, but with copious amounts of am
munition, in that particular direction.
With Russia also no doubt there have been
opportunities of disagreement which I
think have been, if I may say so, rather
skilfully managed, and at the present
moment our relations with Russia concern
ing Persia are certainly better than they
were a, very short time ago. In reference
to the presence of Russian troops in
North Persia we must bear in mind the en
croachments which were made by the
Turkish forces in those directions. It is
obvious that while that condition lasts, or
while that is being extended, you can
hardly expect Russia to look upon it with
indifference. I am not a strong advocate
for Russia, or for the agreement, but as
we have entered into that agreement, and
it has on the whole, especially in parts of
Asia other than Persia, been of the
greatest benefit to us, I think that every
possible opportunity should be used now
to make it as permanent and workable as
possible.
I wish now to refer to a project of special
and immediate interest, the Trans-Persian
Railway. As at present advised by my
own consideration of the subject, I am de
cidedly adverse to this subject. It seems
to be obviously strategic rather than com
mercial or economic. How can this rail
way beyond Ispahan possibly pay unless it
is helped and supported by a substantial
State guarantee? Who is to pay the
guarantee ? Then whom is it meant to
benefit ? Is it to benefit Russia or Persia
or England? About Russia I will say
nothing at all, except that no doubt they
have the power, with the consent of the
Persian Government, of extending their
railway. Whether they will do it or not I
suppose depends very greatly on various
circumstances. It is doubtful to what ex
tent Persia will derive any benefit from
this railway. I do not think it can be
shown for a moment that Persia can bear
the heavy guarantees wTiieh the railway re
quires A booklet formed of a single gathering of nested bifolia. in order to be constructed, and I do
not quite see how—except in one single
particular, by putting Persia in a more
powerful position—she will be able to pre
serve order. I come to India, with which,
to speak really frankly, I am most con
cerned. Is it to the advantage or disad
vantage of India, primd facie, that the rail
way should be built? What are the ad
vantages to India in the first place ? I
can see only one, and that is that mails and
a few passengers may be able to get to India
a few days quicker than they would by the
Suez Canal and the Red Sea, or by the
Baghdad Railway, whenever that may be
completed. But what are the disadvan
tages of it? Surely it will interfere with
us more or less commercially. It must
interfere, one would suppose, with the
traffic through the Suez Canal and the Red
Sea, of which our share is the greatly pre
ponderating one.
Then most important of all is the strate
gic position of India. Great expense would
be caused by any change being made in our
strategic frontier as at present constituted.
Of course there is no point of defence
equal to that on our Western Frontier.
That is obvious. We have done everything
in our power for generations to guard
against the one special menace, and that
was the possibility of Russia, not perhaps
invading India, but at certain times being
able to put so much pressure on India that
we should be compelled to divert our
attention from European complications
and to send troops for the defence of our
frontier. We have made enormous sacri
fices to retain our present position. We
long ago, of course, took the Indus Valley,
and we have had wars with Afghanistan,
while innumerable frontier questions have
arisen and have been settled, almost all
of them directed to that point. Then in
the West we have been careful to maintain
our supremacy in the Mediterranean, from
Gibraltar, Malta, and so forth; and, apart
from that, we have also jealously guarded
against any possible interference by Con
stantinople—all these efforts being speci
ally directed to the protection of India.
We have now this project of the Trans-
Persian Railway to the coast and so down
to Karrachi. The Karrachi Chamber of
Commerce is very strongly in favour of it.
Mr. Webb is a leading spirit who has been
fascinating the imagination of Indian
readers of the newspapers by pointing out
the advantages of the line. Mr. Wbbb is
an extremely able man, and I fancy he is
mostly interested as a commercial man in
the prosperity of his own port.
The Committee will remember how long
ago, in regard to the Valley of the Indus,
Captain Chesney went out to make a sur
vey, and how in those days an individual
in India, Mr. Andrew, very much advo
cated a railway through Messapotamia to
Baghdad. I think the question of the
gauge is a very important one, and indeed
I would sooner myself if that question was
not raised at all. There is an alternative
railway v/hich seems to be in every way
worthy of support, and that is the line by
Khora Musa and that way to Khoramabad.