"تقرير الإدارة عن المقيمية السياسية في الخليج الفارسي للأعوام ١٩١٥-١٩١٩" [و‎‎١‎٣‎٢] (٣٩٦/٢٧٠)

FOR THE YEAR 1918.
29
it was decided to arrange for regular bi-weekly escorts to be supplied by the
Anar detachment for all caravans between Anar and Mehdiabad where there
was a force of Bakhtiari guards. The system worked well, and no more
robberies were reported up to the time that the detachment was withdrawn owing
to the cholera epidemic in June. After the cholera, in deference to the repre
sentations of the Persian Government, the South Persia Eifles detachment
was not sent back to Anar. Obviously the presence of the detachment and
its monopoly of the escorting of caravans interfered with the profits of the
Koad -Guards who during the remainder of the year levied rohdari at the rate
of krans 6 50 per camel, krans 4 per mule and krans 2-60 per donkey on
this road. These exactions made possible the arrangement described above
under " Road Guards." The robber tribes recommenced raiding in late
September and early October, but the influenza put a stop to their activities
and the road w r as quiet till the end of January 1919. At the date of writing
(11th February 1919) the Kermanshahan Pass has been blocked for some days
by ChaLarrahis, who have looted several caravans, and the question of sending
a detachment to Anar has once more been raised.
The unmetalled road via Saidabad to Hajiabad (200 miles) has been in
Road Construction. regular use by military motor-oars. In
June and July, Major Lowis, U.Jj], greatly
improved 18 miles of it between Bid Khah and Saidabad on the Kerman-
Saidabad stction.
The South Persia Rifles Pield Engineers under Captain Wharton com
menced work on an unmetalled road from Kerman to Bam (1^0 miles) at the
beginning of April, and finished it in four months. Motors can now reach
Bam within a day without difficulty, six days being usually taken by
caravans.
At the end of Pebruary, His Majesty's Consul accompanied Colonel Farran,
Officer Commanding, Kerman Brigade, by motor to Dehaneh Baghi on the
Sistan border (300 miles) via Bam and the Pahreh-Sipi desert route. Although
the only point at which any roadmaking had then been done was at the top
of the pass between Gurg and Sipi, no great difficulty w T as experienced, and
the double journey only occupied 12 days including a day's halt each
way at Bam. The chief obstacle is the sandy belt at Shurgaz in the middle
of the desert, where cars are liable to stick seriously unless helped through
by labourers brought from Pahreh.
A detachment of 180 infantry under Captain Coffey was sent to Nar-
mashir early in October, and took up its quarters at Burj-i-Muhammad 8
miles south of Pahreh with a view to the policing of Narmashir and to the
construction and protection of the Narmashir section of the Khwash-Bam
road. This road was constructed by the detachment in continuation of the
Kerman-Bam road to Rigan (60 miles) before the end of the year. Captain
Ward, Commandant Sarhad Levies, had meanwhile carried the Khwash section
via Samsur (Bazman district) to within two or three marches of Rigan.
Until the end of February the Bandar Abbas post was irregular owing
n , , c . to the heavy snow on the Kafanu and
Ihe rostal bervice. „ i i i rr j
Zarchu passes between Kerman and
Baft. After that the service was both reasonably rapid (9-1^ days) and
regular until .November, when the deaths from influenza of the Sub-Postmaster
at Daulatabad and of most of the ghulaws on the road caused great confusion
and delay. At the end of December the passes once more became blocked
with snow, and for the last six weeks letters have been taking Irom twenty
days to a month each way.
Except during the cholera epidemic, when the service broke down a*
Anar and the mails were held up for a month, letters took on an a\ erage
40 days to come from Tehran. Parcels however took very much longer owing
to delay caused by the presence of robbers on the road.
Recruiting for the Brigade went on briskly during the early part
rni a of the year, and in April and May the
e South Persia Ri es. strength of the force was probably
at its greatest. In Septembe**, however, orders were received to stop
recraiting, with the result that owing to the heavy mortality (about 10