خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [و‎‎٨‎٢] (٢٤٨/١٦٣)

which became reduced owing to the concentration on supplies to Kussia. This
position is now being corrected. A British Movements Officer was sent to Ahwaz
to supervise civil loadings and an immediate improvement resulted. It is now
proposed to set up a Civil Movements Control organisation under the direct
supervision of the Millspaugh Mission.
Food Situation.
30. There have been several fundamental changes in the organisation oi
the Ministry of Supply since my last despatch was written. It has, in fact, ceased
to exist as a Ministry, since in August it was divided into two sections—the
Cereals and Bread Section under Mr. Sheridan, to deal with grain collection and
the feeding of towms, and the Price Stabilisation Section under Mr. Robinson of
the American Financial Mission, to deal with the stabilisation of prices and the
distribution of Government monopoly goods such as tea, sugar and piece-goods.
Dr. Millspaugh has personally assumed responsibility for grain collection in
addition to his duties as Adviser-General of the Finances. Meanwhile
Mr. Sheridan’s contract expires in September and at his request is not being
renewed. He took the few weeks’ leave due to him and left Persia on the
28th August, 1943. Mr. Crawford, an American member of the Middle East
Supply Centre, has succeeded him temporarily, pending the arrival from the
United States of a permanent incumbent, engaged by Dr. Millspaugh, who is
expected to reach Tehran during the first half of September.
31. The Persian Government propose to employ three main methods for
collecting the grain they need—undertakings by landlords to sell an assessed
proportion of their crop to Government at the Government-controlled price,
forward contracts with reliable contractors, and purchase from the peasant of his
surplus in return for 90 per cent, of the Government price in cash and 10 per cent,
in sugar or tea. I his last method, known locally as the barter system, is being
held in abeyance in most areas, until a considerable proportion of landlords’
undertakings have been completed, for fear that landlords should be tempted to
withhold their grain in the hope of disposing of it through their peasants and
so obtain large quantities of sugar or tea for sale on the black market. In
Khuzistan, however, where, contrary to all expectations, undertakings for 14.000
tons have been obtained and delivery of over 10,000 tons already secured, the
barter system has just been introduced with a view to buying up a proportion
of the peasants' surplus. If all goes well, the estimated total by both methods is
between 15,000 and 20,000 tons, or aproximately sufficient for the needs of the
towns of Khuzistan till next harvest. Last year’s collections amounted to about
400 tons only; as a result the local market in wheat had to be freed, and this was
followed by an immediate rise in the price of bread to 10 rials or 12 rials per kilo.
Government-controlled bread of good quality at 4 rials per kilo, has after one
set-back, which took the form of a riot instigated by interested persons, now T been
on sale in Ahwaz for over a month.
32. The target figure for collection throughout the country was given by
Mr. Sheridan, perhaps somewhat optimistically, at 300.000 tons. Collections so
far have been slow and are reported by the Cereals and Bread Section to be only
37,000 tons to the end of August. The same source puts undertakings secured
plus amounts contracted for at just over 171,000 tons, though undertakings are
still being obtained in many areas. The unknown factor, which is liable seriously
to reduce Mr. Sheridan’s estimate, is the quantity required by the Soviets for
their own needs and their attitude towards collection in and export from the
Russian zone. I hope that this will become clearer in the course of next week
or two. If it does not, I propose to ask my American colleague to join me in a
request to the Soviet authorities for a definition of their attitude, since a failure
to supply Persia with a considerable share of grain from the rich northern
provinces this year would almost inevitably result in an appeal from the Persian
Government to the British and American Governments for imported grain to
feed the country. The position at the moment is complicated by the fact that the
Persian Government has still some 7,000 tons of grain to deliver on contracts
concluded with the Soviet last year. Meanwhile Dr. Millspaugh has quite cleverly
manoeuvred the Soviet authorities into a more awkward position than they were
in last year with respect to grain collection for their own use or for export.
Dr. Millspaugh, having inserted a clause in one of his regulations to the effect
that all foreign authorities desiring to buy grain were required to obtain his
permission, made a statement to the press in which he said that he was satisfied
from his own investigations that neither the British nor the American forces
were buying grain in Persia for their own consumption or export. The Soviet