"تقرير الإدارة عن المقيمية السياسية في الخليج الفارسي للأعوام ١٩١٥-١٩١٩" [و‎‎٥‎٨] (٣٩٦/١٢٢)

FOR THE YEAR 1916.
37
The town Police, in spite of various changes of their chief, have been
fairly satisfactory, and since the sappres-
Pohc0, sion of an outbreak of Democrat " Night
placards" and of housebreaking, in September, there has been little crime in
the town.
Reference to these has already been made. The value of the force is
" purely negative. They do little or no-
Qarasuran (Roadguards . thing to prevent robberies, but if Qara-
suran were not maintained, and if pay and allowances ostensibly for maintain
ing Qarasuran were not made to certain tribal chiefs, such as Ghunj Ali Khan,
Afshar, who receives about 400 toman 4 ! per mensem, it is probable that
robberies of travellers and caravans would be even commoner than they are.
That the postal service should work at all is, considering the
means employed, something of a
The Post office. miracle, but the miracle is tantalising
and insufficient. On the Yezd-Tehran line the posts have frequently been
held up for weeks, when they have escaped being robbed. The average time
now-a-days which letters take to come from Tehran is 5 weeks. In 1913 they
used to reach London from Kerman in the same number of weeks, or less.
From the British point of view the Bandar Abbas^ postal service is
much the most important, and it has reached a degree of inefficiency which
is unparalleled in the past. In November and December incomplete mails
were taking 35 and 40 days to come up from Bandar Abbas to Kerman. The
average time in 1913-14 was 16 days, which was quite unnecessarily slow.
His Majesty's Consul has been agitating the question since November, both
locally and in Tehran, with as yet but slender results. A rapid service by
ridinc camels which was to carry the post from Bandar Abbas to Daulatabad
in 4-5 davs and cost 150 tomans per mensem was promised, but it was no
sooner instituted than it broke down. It is now (in March) being reorganised
by the South Persia llifles. On the upper section a direct service from
Daulatabad via Baft to Kerman was sanctioned and after much pressure on
the local authorities has been realised. Formerly the post lost^ several days
by going round by Saidabad (Sirjan) and Bahramabad. A subsidiary service
from Baft now supplies the needs of Sirjan and Bahramabad. These changes
have incurred an increase in the expenditure Budget of GO tomans per
mensem raising it from 75 tomans to 135 tomans.
The actual work of the post office at Bandar Abbas has given rise to
much dissatisfaction. Letters and parcels are^ often delayed in despatch and
those of one week are sometimes received in Kerman before those of the
preceding one. Postage is also frequently charged on articles alieady su -
ciently stamped. Redress is almost impossible owing to the slowness and
uncertainty of the post itself, and the shortness of life It is absolute y
necessary now that Kerman wdth its Military and commercial interests should
have a reasonably rapid and reliable postal service, and this will on y le
obtained by placing the conveyance of the mails in the hands or the feoutn
Persia Rifles, when they are ready to undertake it. This is not a case m
which we can afford to study the susceptibilities of Persian inefficiency.
Baluchistan has long lain outside the control of the Governor-General of
" Kerman and Baluchistan," and m such
Baluchistan. relations as existed in recent years Balu
chistan played the active and the Kerman province the passive part, for Baluch
raiding parties j early visited Jiruft, Narmashir and Khabis and sometimes
penetrated as far as Tahrud on the East, and Eawar on the North, of Kerman
citv. This vear the Baluch have been provided with entertainment nearer
home by General Dyer and his troops, with the result that Kerman has
enjoyed on this side such peace as had become a myth of the b-olden age.
When General Sykes arrived in Kerman our forces were operating in
the East of Baluchistan. Bahram Khan of Bampur had not come within
range of their military operations, but he was alarmed, and began writing,
apparently in June, to the Sardar Nusrat and Sardar Mujallal expressing fear
that the British intended to annex Baluchistan and professing willingness on