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File 357/1919 Pt 2 ‘RAILWAYS IN PERSIA’ [281r] (566/1150)
The record is made up of 1 volume (573 folios). It was created in 5 Dec 1921-28 Jan 1931. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
[This
rtnrument is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government.!
PERSIA-
confidenhak
[August 4, 1925.]
Section 1.
[E 4552/110/34] Ao. 1.
Sir P Loraine to Mr. Austen Chamberlain.—{Received August 4.)
|t 0 403. Confidential.)
Gulhek, July 18, 1925.
f ' 4 JEW days ago the German Minister informed me in personal confidence,
1 idinff that he had sought and obtained the permission of his Government to do so,
tliat he had been approached by the Minister of Public Works, presumably with the
authority of the Persian Government, with a proposal that a German railway
■engineer of repute, doubtless to be accompanied by other experts, should be engaged
to make surveys of possible railway lines in Persia and, I gather, an estimate of the
cos t of construction, and to make a report on such matters to the Persian Govern
ment. Count Schulenburg was furthermore requested to ascertain whether his
Government would facilitate the engagement of such an expert.
2. Count Schulenburg told me that, though he could not well refuse to transmit
a message of this sort to the German Government, he had accompanied it with a 1
recommendation to his Government not to mix themselves up in the affair. The reply
from Berlin was, however, to the effect that, even though there might be no result, if.
the Persian Government were bent on engaging such a mission and were willing toj
pay for it, it might be as well for it to be in German hands rather than in any other
ones. Count Schulenburg told me he had good grounds for believing that a similar
request had been addressed to the United States Government through
Dr. Millspaugh, who is now on leave in America.
3 . A few days later I had occasion to see my German colleague again, and I
enquired whether there were any further developments in the matter. Count
Schulenburg replied in the negative. He said that he had been unable to get any
statement from the Persians of the traces which they wished to be surveyed and
reported on, and that it was obviously quite useless for an engineer to come out here
unless he knew with tolerable accuracy what was expected of him. In these circum
stances I refrained from the expense of bringing the foregoing particulars to your
knowledge by telegraph, and I trust that the present despatch will reach you in time
to be of practical utility.
4 . The matter is one of importance and will need to be closely watched. The
advice of any foreign railway mission must be expected to carry weight in Persian
counsels, and, should any construction work be decided on, they would naturally use
all the influence they possessed in order to secure concessions, contracts, or orders
for materials for their country of origin. As regards possible American interest in
railway matters, there is already a report here that Dr. Millspaugh has telegraphed
to the Persian Government that he can obtain in the United States of America a loan
of 75,000,000 dollars on the security of the yield of the sugar and tea monopoly
charges for the purpose of building railways, this report must, however, be treated
with reserve, as it lacks confirmation as yet.
5. The proposals to Washington and Berlin sound to me like the personal
handiwork of the Minister of Public Works, formerly known as Serdar Muazam, but
now, since the abolition of titles, as Taimur Tache. I am not quite sure, however,
that this enterprising, but unreliable, young gentleman will retain office very much
longer. He is the stormy petrel of the present Cabinet; I rather suspect that the
Prime Minister is getting a little tired of him; I am quite sure that most of the
deputies are sick to death of him. I shall not, of course, seek to exert any influence
direct or indirect so far as concerns his retention of office, but I am not debarred from
sa ying here that I should be heartily glad to witness his disappearance from the
Cabinet. He is a determined and jealous opponent of the present Minister for
Foreign Affairs, who, as you are well aware, has worked in the most loyal and
steadfast manner, ever since he took office, for the improvement of Anglo-Persian
relations and the solution of all outstanding questions with us. But Mushir-ui-
Mulk s chief stumbling-block is Taimur Tache, and I am well aware that it is enough
that the former should express a view on any given subject in the Council of Ministers
[1041 d— 1 ]
About this item
- Content
This volume contains papers relating to the construction of the Trans-Persian Railway. It contains material relating to:
- The Persian Railway Syndicate’s attempt to enlist the aid of Rabbi Joseph Saul Kornfeld, the United States Envoy to Persia [Iran], and the British Foreign Office’s subsequent unfavourable attitude towards the Syndicate
- The Persian Railway Syndicate’s proposal to invite American companies for the construction of railways in Persia
- The concessions for the Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]-Khanakin [Khanaqin] and Khanakin-Tehran railways
- The proposed railway from Khanakin to Tehran and the estimated cost for the three principal divisions of the railway
- The restrictions of the British Government on the Persian Railway Syndicate’s grant of a loan to the Persian Government
- The possibility of a ‘fusion of interests’ between the Persian Railway Syndicate and the Stronach Dutton System of Road Rails Limited
- The possible extension of the American Chester Group’s railway concession from Turkey into Persia
- The plans of the Prime Minister of Persia [Rezā Khān Sardār Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Sepah] for a railway line extending from Ahwaz [Ahvaz] to Khorramabad, Dizful [Dezful], and Sultanabad [Arak] to Tehran
- The endeavour of an American group to obtain a concession for a line from Mohammerah to Khorramabad and Tehran
- The expenditures of the Persian Railway Syndicate for the Khanakin-Tehran and the Mohamerah-Khoramabad surveys
- The possibility of forming a Railway Syndicate with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and Standard Oil Company
- The Persian Government’s decision to carry out a survey of the Mohammerah-Tehran-Bandar-i Gez [Bandar-i Gaz] railway line with the assistance of a German engineer
- The Consortium industriel pour l’Orient’s proposal to build a railway connecting Meshed [Mashhad] to the Tripoli-Homs Line
- The preference of the British Army Council and the Air Council for an East-West rather than a North-South railway in Persia for strategic reasons
- The exploitation of coal and iron deposits in Mazanderan [Mazandaran] for the construction of railways in Persia, and the concerns of Russia about a Trans-Persian Railway connecting the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to the Caspian Sea
- The Act of the Persian Majlis [Parliament] for the construction of the Persian Trunk Railway
- The Persian Majlis’s Passage of the Bill for Railway Survey and Construction
- The Persian Majlis’s passage of the Railway Construction Bill, from Mohammerah and Bandar-i Gez to Tehran
- The Persian Majlis’s passage of a law for constructing a railway between Khor Musa-Mohammerah-Bandar-i Gez;
- The Persian Majlis’s authorisation of the Minister of Public Work to employ foreign experts for the construction of the Railway;
- The inauguration of the Bandar-i Gaz-Tehran-Ahwaz Railway in the presence of the Shah of Persia [Rezā Shāh Pahlavi]
- The British concerns and preference for a British rather than an American firm to build the Southern Section of the Railway
- The passage of the Railway Survey Law by the Persian Majlis and the contract between the Persian Government and the American company Ulen, and two German companies, Philipp Holzmann and Julius Berger-Siemens Union [sic., Siemens Bauunion] to carry out a complete survey of the Railway
- The contract between the Persian Government, represented by Minister of Public Works [General Ḥabib Allāh Khān Shaybānī], and the Persian Railway Syndicate, represented by MD Carrel and MNS Mavrogordato
- The contracts between the Persian Government and the Persian Railway Syndicate for the constructions of ports at Bandar-i Qays and Khor Musa (Bandar-i Shahpur) and a dam over the Karun River at Ahwaz
- The plans for building the line from Bandar Shapur north of Ahwaz, and revival of the line from Hamadan to Tehran
- The construction of the railway lines from Bandar Shah and Khor Musa, the diversion of German resources to the construction of electrical and cement works, and the postponement of building a port at Khor Musa
- The reservations of the British Minister in Persia [Robert Henry Clive] about the construction of the Railway as opposed to motor roads in Persia, and the subsidisation of the enterprise through the tea and sugar monopolies
- The increase in the cost of the Southern Section of the Railway and predicted opposition of the Persian Government
- The visit by the Shah of Persia to the Southern Section of the Railway, his unfavourable impression of the state of the railway, and the American Minister in Persia’s advice to Ulen and Company to stop working on the railway in case of difficulties with the Persian Government
- The cancellation of the contract between the Persian Government and the Persian Railway Syndicate over delayed payments, and the agreement between the German and Ulen groups within the Syndicate to work on the Northern and Southern sections of the Trans-Persian Railway respectively
- The Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s concerns about the Railway providing greater access and mobility to the Russians
- The dispute between the Persian Government and the German-American syndicate for the construction of the Railway
- The negotiations between the Persian Government and the German companies Julius Berger Konsortium, Philipp Holzmann, and Siemens Bauunion for the construction of the Northern Section of the Trans-Persian Railway
- The possible takeover by the Batignolles Construction Company of the building of the Southern Section of the Trans-Persian Railway from the American and British companies Ulen and Company and Stewart and McDonnell
- The Persian Government’s appointment of Suzuki Hajime from the Japanese Railway Department’s Engineering Bureau
- The breakdown of negotiations between the Batignolles Construction Company and the Government of Persia, and the latter’s decision to proceed with the construction of the remaining sections of the railway
- The proposals of the Batignolles Construction Company to the Government of Persia in the absence of a contract
- The extension of the Southern Section of the Railway from Khor Musa to Dizful, Hamadan and Kazvin [Qazvin], and the Northern Section from Tehran to Sari and the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.
The volume also includes the following sketch maps:
- A sketch map of the Trans-Persian Railway, from Khor Musa to Sari and the coast of the Caspian Sea, showing the ‘Line Completed’, ‘Line Surveyed’, and ‘Division between the Northern and Southern Sections’ (f 14)
- A sketch map of the Northern Section of the Railway, showing the routes to Pahlavi, Semnan, and Balfurush [Barfurush], with a second map of the Southern Section, showing alternative routes and termini, running either from Mohammerah or Khor Musa to Dizful and Hamadan (f 156)
- A sketch map showing the existing and projected railways in Persia (f 204).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (573 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The subject 357 (Persia: Railways) consists of two volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/793-794. The volumes are divided into two parts, with each part comprising one volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 573; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/794
- Title
- File 357/1919 Pt 2 ‘RAILWAYS IN PERSIA’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:13v, 15r:18v, 19v:23v, 24v:31v, 35v:38v, 39v:42v, 45v:48v, 56v:57v, 58v:62v, 64r:98v, 99v:106v, 110r:117v, 118v:122v, 123v, 125r:126v, 128r:148v, 150v:155v, 157r:163v, 165r:169v, 171r:173v, 175r:181v, 182v:188v, 190r:203v, 205r:206v, 208r:226r, 227v:266v, 268r:489v, 490v, 494v, 498v, 502v, 507v:523v, 524v:526v, 534v:544v, 545v:546v, 547v, 548v:552v, 553v:555v, 557v:572v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence