ملف رقم ٣٠٠٤ لسنة ١٩١٠ "المجلس الصحي في طهران" [و‎‎٢‎١‎٧] (٥١٦/٤٣٨)

jTMs D q cumen Us the Property of His Britannic Mniest.v c Government.]
EASTERN SANITARY REFORMS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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*(• 5 IB It® t'
[February 21.]
Section 1.
[6041]
No. 1.
Sir C. Spring-Rice to Sir Edward Grey *—(Received February 21.)
(No.
Sir,
11. Commercial. Confidential.)
Stockholm, February 15, 1910.
WITH reference to your despatch No. 4, Commercial, of the 28th January, I have
the honour to state that I attended Count Taube’s official reception to-day, and made a
private and friendly communication, verbally, on the subject of the appointment of the
doctor to the German Legation at Tehran to represent Sweden on the sanitary
commttee which sat at that capital. I said that I knew that the great desire of his
Government was to preserve both in deed and in spirit the strictest neutrality, and
from this point of view I wished to give him a friendly warning. There were certain
sanitary questions pending before the sanitary board of Tehran which were, as a matter
of fact, of a highly controversial character—at least, they had been unfortunately
presented in that form. These related to questions of quarantine. Russia owned the
whole of the shipping on the Caspian, and England rather more than nine-tenths of
the shipping navigating the Persian Gulf. It was natural that the Governments
concerned attached a great deal of importance to the management of the quarantine
relations. No doubt it was also natural that this question should arouse opposition in
quarters where its political aspects were regarded as of importance. But this,
ex hypothesi, was not the case with Sweden, who had neither commercial nor political
interests in Persia. If, however, she gave full powers to the delegates of a Power,
which was opposed to the action taken or contemplated by England or Russia, she
would he taking a political part in a controversy in which she was not concerned, and
would be regarded by the two Powers as having abandoned that policy of neutrality
on which she so often insisted. These remarks I made in a friendly spirit, not in
consequence of anything which had happened, but merely as a warning as to what
might happen.
Count Taube showed some surprise, and told me he had never heard either of the
sanitary council at Tehran or of the appointment of a Swedish delegate, and that he
quite understood and sympathised with the point of view which I had taken.
I will report further, when I have heard what is the result of his enquiries in his
department.
I have, &c.
CECIL A. SPRING-RICE.
Copy seut to Tehran (No. 2, Commercial), February 25, 1910
[2715 x-1]