Coll 30/9 'Persian Gulf: Administration Reports 1926-1938' [‎494r] (992/1028)

CHAPTER II
EVENTS AND CONDITIONS IN EARS.
March 1926— March 1927.
Marking time perhaps best sums up the current of events and deve-
lopment in this province during the period : The new found mood for re-
\i\a. reform is holding its own, and nothing more: enthusiasm has
abated, and some pessimism is abroad; but even what remains should be a
cause for thankfulness. It is a truism, of course, that any noticeable
change in this distant province from the condition of affairs six, or twelve,
or twenty years ago is to be found in the few towns and townships: not
in the districts. With the sole exception of more respect for the Central
Government, and peacefulness the traveller would search long for signs of
a new outlook, or comprehension of the need for a common ideal and effort
by peasantry and tribespeople as well as townsmen, or even a desire for new
conditions.
Administration .—The Civil administration of Fars has remained'
throughout the period in the intelligent and capable hands of Haji Nehdi
Khan Nasir Isfandiari (eldest son of the ex-Minister of Finance, Haii Muh-
tashim-us-Saltaneh) : His capacity for work, desire to arrive at a settle
ment of difficulties, whether administrative or foreign, quick perception of
points at issue, and diplomacy have enabled him to acquire respect in
Shiraz, and keep the other government departments wwking in relative
harmony with him.
In June military governorships of the sub-provinces were abolished,
and civilians appointed, except for the Qashqai, and the Kuhgilu (where no
suitable candidate would proceed under existing conditions). The conti
nuance of the hereditary jurisdiction of Mirza Ibrahim Khan Qaw T am over
Fasa-Darab-Laristan and eastern Fars was the object of attack by a Tehran
newspaper towards the end of 1926 : the Press of Shiraz however not only
defended it, but pointed out that, were it replaced by a crowd of
ministerial officials from the north, the cost and oppression to the inhabi
tants would be greater than it is now, and there would not be the same per
sonal interest in their welfare.
The election to the sixth Majlis terminated in May 1926. They were
not free elections, in the sense as understood in Europe, and the list of can
didates, who were to be successful, was more or less agreed by the central
government, the Qawami interest in Shiraz, and the Military Command.
In October 1926 there was a change of Karguzar, Mirza Ali Reza Khan
Sa’idi Ansari being replaced by his brother-in-law, Mirza Abdul Karim
Khan Pisiyan Sultani: in October too a new department—that of Public
Health—was opened by the despatch of a physician from Tehran, and by
several minor appointments to the chief townships of the province : and in
January 1927 a Registrar was appointed to make a register of the popula
tion, oii the result of which the quota of conscripts would be drawn by the
Director of Recruiting in all the South, who also reached Shiraz at the same
time.
A wireless station, erected by Russian engineers and mechanics, and
opened in August, was handed over to the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs
for the transmission of civil messages at the end of 1926. There has been
some agitation for an extension of the local land lines to Fasa, Jahrum, Far
and other provincial centres.
Security. Without having been threatened in any serious degree, secu
rity has been none too good, and to a marked extent less satisfactory than
in 1925 None of the outlying regions of the province, such as the Kuhgilu,
the Rustam tribe of Mamasanni, the coastal region of Tangistan and Dashti,
the Southern-eastern districts between the Firuzabad-Jahrum-Darab line
and the sea coast, or the Chahar-rahi tribes in the north east, have been
brought under control of the Government. No further disarmament has