خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [ظ‎‎٣‎٩] (٢٤٨/٧٨)

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77. The normal invasion of desert (i.e., migratory) locust swarms from
India during the autumn and early winter was prevented by efficient control in
Sind and Rajputana, but there remains the probability that swarms will enter
South Persia as a result of breeding which is now occurring in Arabia.
78. This danger was considered by an international conference at Tehran
in November, and preliminary arrangements were made to meet it. The Persian
Ministry of Agriculture’s probable requirements of motor vehicles have beei^
placed before their Road Transport Administration, and the Ministry’s stocks of
bran and poison in the south are adequate. However, their probable commit
ments are very large, and the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit has therefore under
taken to carry out any control which may be necessary between Lingeh and Task.
Its locust officer disposes of transport and radio vans supplied by the Persia
and Iraq Force, and His Majesty’s Government are paying for the hire of local
labour and have provided poison and bran.
79. The Government of India have agreed under certain conditions to carry
out both survey and control work in the south-east corner of Persian Mekran, on
the Indian frontier. Ways and means are now under discussion.
80. Moroccan (i.e., non-migratory) locust egg-deposits which have now been
completely mapped indicate that over 110,000 hectares will have to be controlled
at the hatching next spring—mainly in Azerbaijan and Gurgan. The Ministry
of Agriculture is negotiating with the Soviet authorities for the purchase of oil
cake meal as a bait material; and they have put before the Road Transport
Administration a demand for the vehicles which will be required in this campaign.
81. During the period under review the Middle East Supply Centre office in
Tehran took over from the embassy the work of co-ordinating locust reports, of
representing the United Kingdom and Indian Governments on the Tehran
International Locust Control Committee, and of maintaining liaison between the
British locust officer in Persia and those concerned in and outside the country.
United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief Administration, and the Polish
Evacuees.
82. The total number of Polish evacuees in Persia diminished during the
period under review from 5,440 to 4,435. Among those who left were seventy-nine
students bound for Beirut University. Attempts are still being made to evacuate
the remaining half of the Children’s School at Isfahan and their attendant
grown-ups. Once they have gone, there will be no Poles left in Persia apart from
(a) those employed by the British and American Armed Forces and Government
organisations and (5) those living by their own efforts, who consequently are their
own masters and free to leave or stay as they wish, subject only to Persian regula
tions regarding fermis de sejour.
83. United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief Administration take no
financial responsibility for these Polish refugees and, in fact, no responsibility
other than that of ultimate repatriation. They are, however, prepared
to act (without commitment) in a certain measure as regards transport,
through what personnel they may have in the countries concerned. It is under
stood that the reason for the United Nations Rehabilitation and Relief
Administration’s attitude is that these Poles are not war refugees within the
Administration’s definition of the term.
British Council.
84. The Council is now responsible for instruction in English to over 4,000
Persians throughout the country, and the demand is increasing. Applications
for teachers have been received from many provincial centres where there are as
yet no Anglo-Persian Institutes, and textbooks have been sent to schools in these
areas. The Institute in Tehran has overflowed into an Annexe. The Council
has sponsored a series of concerts by the newly-formed Tehran Symphony
Orchestra. The Orchestra has given two concerts, both of which were attended
by more than 500 persons. In view of the absence in Tehran of a suitable
hall for dramatic performances, the cellar of the Anglo-Persian Institute in
Tehran has been converted into a little theatre. The theatre was inaugurated
with five most successful performances of Wilde’s “ The Importance of Being
Earnest.”
85. Copies of this despatch are going to His Majesty’s Consular Officers in
Persia, His Majesty’s Representative in Moscow, the Government of India., the
Minister Resident in Cairo and the Political Intelligence Centre, Middle East.
- I have, &c.
R. W. BULLARD.