مجموعة ٨/٢٨ "بلاد فارس؛ اليوميات؛ سيستان وكاين، أبريل ١٩٢٧ – ١٩٣٣" [ظ‎‎٤‎٥] (٤٣٤/١٠١)

their personal belongings, objected to
this and some alteration appears to
have taken place and the Customs clerk
returned after abusing the Levies and
declaring rhat the boundary was at
Juzzak.
1 /
X
A protest was made to the Director
of Customs at Zahidan, and the latter
stated he had issued orders to his sub
ordinates not to cross the Biver-bed
which is temporarily recognised as
the boundary.
Up to the end of January the issue
of long-period Visas to British drivers
who have to cross the frontier to Kundi,
had not been started at Zahidan,
although the procedure has long been
sanctioned by the Central authorities.
Nevertheless the Central authorities
saw fit to address a complaint to H. M.
Legation, that we were not reciprocating
as regards Persian drivers.
The ostensible reason for not issuing
these Visas, is that the police were
unaware of the Kran equivalent of 10
gold Prancs and had to refer to
Meshed. It could, of course, have been
ascertained from the local banks.
About 10 th January he was instructed
to charge Krans 3o/70. This did not
however satisfy the Police, who then
again referred to Meshed to enquire,
whether the same rule was to apply to
French drivers.
The actual reason for all this is that
as long as the Head of the Police has
the power to issue Visas for each trip,
he is in a position to require each driver
to smuggle to him from India some
small perquisite, such as clothing, shoes,
etc., whereas once Long-term Visas start
he will be in a less easy position in the
matter.
Smuggling is rife all along the border
and it may be assumed that the with
drawal of the railhead is costing the
Persians a very great deal. Rumour has
it that the G. 0. C. in the Sarhad, and
some other officials, have a very efficient
service of smugglers under their control
and for this reason will no doubt use all
their influence in Tehran to oppose the
return of the railway to Zahidan. vX
4. Registration of Foreigners .—At long
last the necessary forms have arrived,
and registration of foreigners for
“ Permits de Sejour” has commenced
both at Zahidan and Zabul.
5. Legal .—The local courts continue
to be as corrupt as ever. A number of
cases of attempted oppression of British
subjects have occurred at Zabul, but
have been settled as the result of
energetic protests from this Consulate.
As an example—A Kurrami barber
was forcibly taken from his shop to the
military barracks and made to bake
bread all night for the troops. He
was given no pay. The following morn
ing troops again appeared at his shop,
but by a ruse he contrived to get away
to the Consulate.
The man was kept in the Consulate
until his pay w T as forthcoming and an
undertaking not to interfere with him
was procured. The naive excuse of
the military officer was that “ He would
not have done it had he known the man
was a British subject,” actually he is
a “ British protected person
6 . Persian Military Affairs —Some
100 time-expired conscripts returned to
their homes in Birjand from Meshed in
January. Sarhang Pathullah who visited
Zabul in connection with the alleged
venality of the late Governor, Yawar
Shuja Nizam, returned to Tehran.
Owing to the constant desertions to
India the G. O. C. has ordered the
Cantonment Commandant at Mirjawa to
prohibit his men from intercourse with
Indian officials there. The conscripts
from Zabul this year consist solely of
the riff-raff, who were unable to find
the means of purchasing their escape.
Practically the only exceptions were a
few of the menial staff of this Consulate
w ho were conscripted presumably with
the intention of demonstrating how
impartially the law is administered.
7. Consulate Land .—An Indian firm
who have for some years been permitted
to lease a piece of land belonging to the
Consulate, on which they had built a
house, at their own risk, recently in
contravention of the terms of their
agreement, sublet the house to the
Afghan Consul. The first intimation
H. M. Consul had had of this was the
hoisting of the Afghan flag in the build
ing. The Afghan Consul, who had only
two days previously visted H, M. Consul,
made no mention of the matter, although
he well knew the land to belong to this
Consulate. He also chose to move into
his new quarters at night.
H. M. Consul called on him and ex
plained that the house could not be sub
let and consequently requested him to
leave. To permit the sub-letting might
cause complications under the Law of
Property owned by Foreigners. The
Afghan Consul duly moved out.