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File 357/1919 Pt 2 ‘RAILWAYS IN PERSIA’ [295r] (594/1150)
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.
T
fThis Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government.]
PERSIA.
CONFIUR-^' UAL..
1
^ o o
I £ '*‘^1 y
l v^ 5 w £**
[May 25, 1925. j
Section o.
[E 3054/ll°/34] No. 1.
Sir P. Loraine to Mr. Austen Chamberlain.—(Received May 25.)
(No. 246. Confidential.)
gj r Tehran, May 9, 1925.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that Persian opinion has, in its own curious
wav p ee n ruminating a good deal of late over the question of the Northern Oil
Concession and of railway construction. The virtual collapse of the negotiations
with the Sinclair Oil Company, that company's failure to raise the 10-million-dollar
loan, the sense of disillusionment as regards the American financial advisers and
American financial assistance, and the growing but still barely articulate belief that
Persia’s future depends on the restoration of good and cordial relations with Great
Britain, have doubtless been factors contributing in various degrees towards the
direction of Persian thought on these and cognate subjects into fresh channels.
On my return to Tehran at the end of last year a large proportion of important
Persians who sought interviews with me adverted to Northern Oil Concession and
asked my views, I expressed the personal opinion that the best solution now,
assuming the lapse of the negotiations with Sinclair, was to revert to the system
which I°had advocated in 1922, namely, to give the concession to the Standard Oil
Company, and to let that company and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company make what
arrangements between themselves they thought fit as regards the vexed question of
the rights purchased by the latter from M. Khoshtaria, and for the Anglo-Persian
Oil Company to keep in the background so far as actual exploitation in the northern
provinces was concerned. _
My interlocutors agreed, without exception, that the course thus outlined was
the best and most advantageous one to pursue, and later on indications reached me
that the idea was making considerable headway.
Another idea, however, has emerged, and it is to this that I wish to draw your
especial attention in the present despatch. It may be summarised as follows . The
Persian Government link up the question of the Northern Oil Concession with tmM
of railway construction; they will give the former, free of any conditions as regards
a loan, to any reliable company or group willing to provide them 'with a railway
which they consider suitable to their purposes and to the needs of the country. ^ 1
do not know who is the originator of this idea, but its protagonist is certainly tne
present Minister of Public Works, Serdar Muazam, Khorasani, whose mind works
quickly, but not always, I fear, in a very straight line. The idea is a rather vague
one, but I am by no means convinced that it is an unworkable one. . ouch impoitan
interests and such enormous possibilities are involved that, in my opinion, it deserves
close scrutiny and most careful consideration. As a matter of caution and supposing
we were able to settle the tw 7 o questions—oil and railways according to oui own
ideas, I should prefer to deal with them seriatim and in that order, for I be leve a
if an Anglo-American group secured the Northern Oil Concession, it won very
soon feel an imperative need of railway communications with the west ana e
proportionately more inclined to assist the Persian Government m ensuring i s
construction, or to encourage their business friends to do so. I do no ,
discard the suggestion of linking up the two questions, provided, or course, _ a re
Joint enterprise could be secured for a British or an Anglo-American combination.
A purely British concern, however, is unlikely to be acceptable here or ear o
Russian retaliation, and we may .therefore postulate an Anglo-American group or
purposes of practical discussion. The consideration of the problem, owever, nee
not take into account at this stage the question whether the two enterprises are ta mn
singly or together, as the arguments of principle obtain m either alternative.
The vital matter, from the point of British and imperial interests alike is
unquestionably the railway problem. One day or another Persia must have her
railway system, and it is not too much to say that its general alignment and e
circumstances of its construction will have a profound and probably a decisive
influence on the w r hole of South and South-West Asia, and thereby on the vas
[957 bb—51
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