ملاحظات أُعدت كمرجع خلال جولة كرزون في الخليج الفارسي، وأوراق أخرى عن بلاد فارس والخليج الفارسي [و‎‎٥‎٦] (٦٧٨/١١١)

HOADS AND ROAD GUARDS IN THE LUR AND BAKHTIARI
COUNTRY.
Pro. No. i m Secret e., August 1903, Nos. 1 - 27 . preservation of order in this region has
Lynch in ooimection with the oonceJoTfn'/tl! 36611 br ° u s¥* forward by Mr.
Ahwaz to Tehran taken over in 1902 by the e ‘- 0 p°e“ian 0 Transport "company
t Secret e., April 1902, Nos. 170 - 173 . (Limited)”, under a promisef of a subsidv
♦ c v it ^^,000 per annum for ten vears nf
J Sub-Enclosure, Enclosure 2 , Pro. No 1 in which half ie nniroUln 1 + 1 , r i •
Secret e„ August 1903 , Nos. 1-27 wnicii Halt is payable by the Indian Gov-
to enter mto relat.ons w.th the Lur tribes. Later! on the m Zetber i^
§Pro. No. n in Secret e., August 1903 , Nos. 1-27 ^ ie Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navma-
Office uointino w in f , tio ? Company addressed§ the Foreign
ptm £. out under existing conditions, nothing could be done
ith the concession, and that the matter was one which was beyond the powers
of a commercial company, and could only be dealt with by a competent
nJI Enclosure, Pro. No. 9 in Secret e., August ^os, Consular officer; and again on the 19th
insecurity prevailing in the country^twhlM
pass, they were unable even to make preliminary surveys. In a memoran-
Nol i. n 27 0sure ’ Pro - No - 16 in Secret E -> Au s ust 1903 . du m,!F dated the 28th February 1903, on
■U j tt" -i ■* *- the Shuster-Dizful-Khoremabad-Snlfnn
^ * U1 f f ^ reece 5 the Consul at Isfahan, du^elt on the probable
good results of the appointment of a suitable Consul to deal with these tribes.
2. In the case of the Ahwaz-Tehran road, by Article 3 of the original
1902 , NosTse-igT- N °- 186 in Secret E ‘’ August concess i° n 3** the Persian Government ex-
, , pressly charge themselves with all neces-
sary arrangements for the protection of the road, and in this respect the concession
is on a different basis from that for the Bakhtiari road from Ahwaz to
ft Secret e„ August 1897, Nos. 134-136. Ispahan, where, by clause 6 of the con-
, w ,, . . cession, ff the Bakhtiari Chiefs, who in
that case are the concessionaires, are themselves giving the right, and under
take the obligation, of protecting the caravan route.
3. The proposal to raise a corps of Lurs and Bakhtiaris is an old one. It
Jt Secret e., November 1896, Nos. 214 - 223 . wus suggested to the Foreign Office by
Sir Mortimer Durand in a letter from
§§ Secret e., June 1903 , Nos. 255 - 257 . lehran, dated the Hth August 1896. In
their despatch§§ to the Secretary of State
on the subject of Consular guards m Persia, No. 53, dated the 7th May 1903
the Government of India invited attention to this proposal, and enquired whether
His Majesty’s Government would be prepared to consider any such scheme
favourably. On the 18th September, in replying on the general question of
Consular guards, Lord George Hamilton contented himself with a reference
to Sir Arthur Hardinge’s opinion, in which Lord Lansdowne concurred, that
the time was not then ripe for the establishment of an Arab Bakhtiari force.
4. On t he 9th October 1903, the Secretary of State telegraphed that, in conse
quence of the death (on the 31st July 1903) of Isfendiar Khan, the Bakhtiari
Chief, and the apprehension of interference of Russia in the Bakhtiari country,
Lord Lansdowne suggested provisionally, pending further proposals from Sir
A. Hardinge, who was sending his Military Attache to the spot to report, that
the Bakhtiaris and Lurs should be encouraged to raise their own Military
Police for the protection of the roads in the Karun region, which had been
deyeloped by British enterprise and capital. The Secretary of State added