"تقرير الإدارة عن المقيمية السياسية في الخليج الفارسي للأعوام ١٩١٥-١٩١٩" [و‎‎٥‎٩] (٣٩٦/١٢٤)

FOR THE YEAR 1916.
39
On several occasions warnings have been received from His Majesty's
Consul-General, Meshed, and His
German Agents. Majesty's Consul, Sistan, of enemy agents
who might be expected to enter Kerman territory from the north or east. All
possible measures have been taken to secure the arrest of any such agents v ho
might make their appearance, but without any tangible result.
These two Indians, who had remained in Kerman during the German
The capes of Fa eh Muhammad and Fakir occupation, were arrested by General
Muhammad. Sykes. The former, who had been for
eight years clerk in His Majesty's Consulate before he was dismissed for incom
petence and uatrustworthiness by the present Consul, in 1914, w r as accused of
having communicated information to the Germans and of having subsequencly
entered their service. The latter, in happier days, servant of General Sykes,
was believed to have joined the Germans in the capacity of cook. Both were
with the Austrian Bia^h in Bam, but claimed that they had been taken there
virtually as prisoners under force majeure. His Majesty's Consul received
instructions, and was given poweis, to try these men on his arrival, but he fell
ill before he was able to take the matter up and it was not till the beginning of
October that investigation was begun. It was then found thai the local
evidence was insufficient. The question of how to deal with the prisoners was
under reference to higher authority—until the end of the year, and in January
1917 it was finally decided that Fateh Muhammad should be sent to India
under the provisions of the c< Ingress Ordinance," and that Eakir Muhammad,
against whom there was no suspicion of any very serious offence apart from
that of having accepted the pay of the enemy for menial services, should be
released.
His Majesty's Consul has no official information regarding the origin or
Souvh Persia Eiil eB . of tj" 9 force. It came to birth at
Bandar Abbas m April with the style and
title of South Persia Military Police. In August, it became known as the
South Persian Army and, in September, it was officially christened the South
Persia Eifles, to which name it has since remained faithful. It is a pity that
it was not possible to find a suitable title which would have lent itself to repro
duction in Persian mouths, as " Gendarmerie " and Gendarme " did, terms
still applied by the common people to the South Persia Bifles. The enlightened
call the force the- Qushiun-i-Janub, cacophonous perhaps but pronounceable,
but the South Persia Rifleman remains nameless and unnamable.
A beginning was at once made with enlistment in Bandar Abbas and the
history of the force there will doubtless be written by the local officials.
Major Farran, Captain Eowle, and Captain Merrill, also Captain Husband,
i. M.S., accompanied General Sykes to Kerman and, on arrival there, began
organising the new force. They had a small staff of Indian Instructors, but
they did not start w r ith a trained Persian nucleus and a supply of Persian
officers as the Swedish Gendarmerie officers did Only a small party of ex-
Gendarmes and one officer were secured and engaged. Of necessity, too, there
was a dearth of horses, saddlery and other material, and it is very creditable to
the three officers that, by the end of the year, they should have been able to
carry the organisation so far as to have 50 Artillery, 398 Cavalry and 429
Infantry under training, while maintaining the forces of local levies at Saida-
bad and Baft which have been referred to above.
The strength in British officers was increased by the arrival of Captain
Wagstaff and Lieutenant Carr, but they were detained in Sirjan by the condi
tion of affairs there until nearly the end of the year.
Early in 1917 it is hoped that the British staff will stand somewhat as
follows:—•
Military Offcers ......... 10
Medical Officers 2.
Warrant Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers. . . . 19
When all these have made their first steps in the knowledge of the people
and the language the disproportion between the work to be done and the men