"تقارير إدارية ١٩٢٠-١٩٢٤" [ظ‎‎١‎٣‎٢] (٤١٢/٢٦٩)

16
ANNUAL REPOET OF THE
of honesty and zeal has been evident to all, first under Haji Izz -ul-Mamalik thea
under Haji Fain-ul-Mulkj yet no one better than the senior departmental officers
realize the uphill task, which they have before them in this province, and, on their
frank admission, the progress made is far from satisfactory. Not only are
portions of the province in derelict condition, unable to produce crops or
revenue, but the economic situation has been unfavourable to landowners and
tax-payers, so that in many cases the latter have thrown it on the administration
to take the government tithe from produce in kind in distant districts. Vested
interests like those of the clerical leaders and their supporters use their influence
to escape* taxation : and, when in the winter of 1923 the administration decided
in the interest of sanitation in Shiraz and to minimize fraud on the excise branch
through the distilling of raw spirits in private houses of the Jewish quarter,
to limit all distilling to one building outside the town, the clerical leaders
supported by the press demanded the suppression of this distillery in the name
of the Islamic prohibition on the drinking of fermented liquors. (This, though
not a few of the leading Mullahs and nearly all grades of the population of
Shiraz are notoriously wine and Araq-bibbers in secret).
The insistence by the United States Advisers on the payment of all receipts
into the Imperial Bank of Persia by the various provincial departments has
been a sound reform. So also has been the fixing of budget limits on the telegrams
sent by departments (except the Military). The flying inspection by Cplonel
MacCormack and his Persian colleagues from Tehran in November was all to
the good. The administration is now building large warehouses in the Artillery
Square so that all crude opium brought in from the districts may be refined
under its direct control instead of on the premises of traders as heretofore, and
also to increase the tobacco excise. Various small sources of excise have been
consolidated and the ' Nawaqil ' dues on all .pack animals transporting mer
chandise from Bushire to Isfahan have been applied with greater strictness to all
animals owned by inhabitants of the urban area of Shiraz. Under the direct
pressure of the Ministry of Finance in Tehran the Qashqai chieftain, Soulat-
ud-Douleh, has been compelled to pay an instalment of 40,000 Tumans (£8,000)
towards the Tumans 130,000 (£26,000) at which the Finance Ministry has
compromised some 300,000 Tumans claimed as arrears of revenue of the Qashqai
tribes. Similarly, during Colonel MacCormack's visit, the other great magnate
of Fans, Qawam-ul-Mulk, effected a settlement of the dispute he had with the
government over taxes, payable for the past two years on a sliding scale, with
a reduction for the expenses of collection : the military expedition to Dashti in
January 1924 enabled 1 the revenue agents to collect from that district 23,000
Tumans (£4,600), the equivalent of two years' land tax being accepted to cover-
much larger arrears : and the taxation of the villages of Burazjun district has
been removed from the control and farm of the hereditary Zabit, assumed by
the revenue agents direct and raised to 11,000 Tumans (£2,200).
But, even with these efforts, the land revenue collected in the first eleven
months of the year March 22nd 1923-24 has been far below the scheduled standard
of 798,000 Tumans (£159,600). The figures for the past 3 years have been :-jr
1921-22. 1922-23. 1923-24 (11 months).
Ts. Ts. Ts.
Due for the year 303-451 345 629 221 000
Arrears from previous years 33,693 185,317 113,000
The Indirect Taxation (and Excise) branch shows a more satisfactory posi
tion :—
1921-22.
1922.23.
1923-24
Ts.
Ts.
Ts.
Excise
24,876
65 t 804
79,258
Nawaqil (tax on transport
animals) .. ",.
••
24,282
21,674
Crown lands
••
12,705
8,636
expenditure and remittances
ascertained
were as
follows :—•
Land Revenue Department,
salaries and expenses
of collection ■„ ... .. 66,936 51,500