"تقارير إدارية ١٩٠٥-١٩١٠" [ظ‎‎٢‎١‎٨] (٦١٦/٤٤١)

20
ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULF
Medjliss and local Council, he was careful to keep the entire direction of all
affairs in his own hands, no single order issued by any department being
valid without his seal. In the case of an ordinary Governor-General, this
would have resulted in administrative chaos, owing to the flood of arrears
which the laissez-faire policy of Asaf-ed-Dowleh had left for settlement; but
Saham-ed-Dowleh united an extraordinary personal energy to an equally
unusual capacity for the organization of business and the economizing of
time. His system for registration of petitions, for checking the progress of
business through the various departments so as to fix responsibility of delay
in any particular case, and for the orderly preservation of archives, was
worthy of the best modern administration, and the pertinacity with which
he almost daily paid surprise visits to the various departm|nts showed that
he had correctly gauged the capacity of his countrymen for sustained effort.
From the day of his arrival until his failure to bluff Sowlet became obvious,
he had the city completely in hand, and there can be little doubt that he would
gradually have extended the circle of his authority through the province, had
he only been supplied with the necessary forces from head-quarters. Thus
the new constitutional experiment in Shiraz when entrusted to Saham-ed-
Dowleh was in hands which were not only strong but clean. In such hands
it has failed and its failure must be regarded as definitive.
Moazziz-ed-Dowleh's relations with the Governor-General grew progress
ively more and more strained, and he
Karguzar. felt himself in a very false position on
the completion of the local revolution in March. He consequently resigned
at the end of April, and was directed to remain in charge until the arrival
of his successor, Ehtisham-i-Humayun, from Tehran. The latter, however,
never appeared, and Moazziz-ed-Dowleh eventually left with Asaf-ed-Dowleh
abandoning his post without leave. At the end of July, Muvaqqar-ed-Dowleh
was appointed to act and was eventually confirmed while protesting that his
acceptance must be regarded as provisional. He is a familiar figure in these
Administration Reports, and it is sufficient to say th&t his thorough know
ledge of English and unusually Western type of mind make him extremely
pleasant to deal with, even though he is more tenacious of his own point of
view than most Persian officials and more skilful in maintaining it.
Under Asaf-ed-Dowleh, Sardar Firuz. His leading characteristics were
^ ^ described last year, and he did not im-
Deputy Governor. prove He ^ ^
Under Ala-ed-Dowleh, Beha-es-Sultaneh and Mudabbir-es-Sultaneh
jointly. As the first of these two was the leader of the cabal against Ala-ed-
Dowleh, and the second was instantly prostrated with fever, their adminis
tration was not very effective, and on the 25th July, they repudiated respon
sibility for order in the town.
Under Saham-ed-Dowleh, Asem-es-Sultaneh, Commander of the Buz-
challu regiment. This appointment was speedily cancelled on Saham's arri
val, the official in question being quite unsuitable for this or any employment.
The post remained unfilled until early in December when Saham-ed-Dowleh
very foolishly nominated Nasr-ed-Dowleh to it, an appointment which was
no enhancement of the latter's dignity, while it gave gratuitous offence to
Sowlet-ed-Dowleh.
For the first two months of the year the centre of gravity of Fars politics
Local Politics was * n Laristan, where the Kawami
brothers spent much time and money in
manoeuvring according to the recognised Persian practice, i.e., combining
the maximum of noise with the minimum of bloodshed. Kawam-ul-Mulk
eventually abandoned the field to the Lari Seyyid and arrived in Shiraz on
March 7th.
The only event in Shiraz worthy of note during this period was one
which illustrated better than ever the " opera bouffe " side of Persian poli
tics. On the 20th February the Bakhtiaris in Ispahan who had control of the
Ispahan telegraph office sent a telegram purporting to come from the Sadr
Azam in Tehran directing Asaf-ed-Dowleh to proceed urgently to Tehran.
The telegram was fully credited and Asaf-ed-Dowleh made all preparations