مجموعة ٢٨ /٦٧ "بلاد فارس: تقارير سنوية، ١٩٣٢-" [و‎‎٤‎٦] (٦٤٤/٩١)

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designed to ensure that if Luft Hansa were allowed to land in Bagdad, they
themselves should be allowed to land in Tehran. The tactics seemed a little
clumsy for the object in view, Herr Weil being fundamentally well-disposed, but
in a position to obstruct the plans of the British company in Persia.
500. The Persian Government had intimated earlier in the year that they
^vould not come to a decision about civil air services until October, but it was not
^®itil the end of December that Herr Weil came to an agreement with Teymour-
tache, who was dismissed a day or two later. The Minister for Foreign Affairs
assured Herr Weil that the agreement would stand, but the Minister of Posts
and Telegraphs then expressed the intention of examining the agreement for
himself, and his examination was not complete at the end of the year.
Private Civil Flights.
501. There were some twenty-five private British flights over Persian
territory during 1932, mostly along the coast of the Persian Gulf. The pilots
included three Indians, one Japanese, one Frenchman and one pilot from the
Irish Free State, all flying in machines registered in Great Britain. The most
notable flight was probably that of Squadron Leader Hinkler.
502. A few planes flew to Tehran, but the projected visit of Miss Spooner,
who with two other pilots proposed to fly three Members of Parliament to Tehran,
did not take place.
(B) Railways.
503. Early in the year a credit of 72,500,000 rials was voted for the improve
ment of the lines already built, including the ports of Bandar Shah and Bandar
Shahpur, as well as their extension northwards and southwards. A further
10 million rials were voted in November, immediately after the Shah’s visit to
Ahwaz, for the extension of the southern section (see also the section entitled
“ Railway Finance ”).
504. In the summer a Swiss engineer, M. Greenhut, was engaged as adviser
on all railway questions. His relations with Mr. Carroll, who was unlikely to
take kindly to such supervision, were the subject of some speculation, but the
Persian Government seem to have been careful not to let the appointment affect
Mr. Carroll’s position.
505. Considerable activity was shown in pushing on the northern section.
Over 5,000 men were at work throughout most of the year, and parties were even
busy upon the preliminary alignment at the top of the Firuz Kuh Pass. The
work was mainly supervised by Swedish engineers, who seem at one time to have
been dissatisfied with the lack of support given them by the Ministry of Communi
cations; at any rate, they, offered their resignations in a body to the Shah, when
he visited the railway in the summer, and the Acting Minister was said to have
been severely reprimanded as a result.
506. In February, Mr. Carroll came to Tehran and was reported to have
secured the Shah’s acquiescence in a scheme by which 500 million to 600 million
rials would be placed at his disposal during the following five years, for the
completion of the southern section as far as Burujird, or even Hamadan. At
that time, he had thirty engineers and 7,000 men at work, and on his return to
Ahwaz he announced his intention of raising this number to 20,000. The
promised funds do not seem, however, to have materialised. The workmen never
increased beyond 9,000, and later in the year considerable staff reductions took
place, while Mr. Carroll, who went on leave for two or three months in the
summer, returned without having made most of the purchases of railway material
that he had intended.
507. Mr. Carroll seemed, none the less, to be still in high favour after the
Shah’s visit to Khuzistan in November, judging by the eulogies that he received
in the inspired Tehran press on the Monarch’s return. On this occasion, the
Shah arrived at Bandar Shahpur from Bushire in one of his new warships, and
travelled by rail to Ahwaz; his visit marked, to all intents and purposes, the
formal opening of the port of Bandar Shahpur and the southern section of the
railway. The estimates which Mr. Carroll gave the Shah of the cost of