مجموعة ٢٨/٢٨ "بلاد فارس: الحدود الفارسية البلوشستانية؛ تعيين الحدود قرب ميرجاوه." [و‎‎٣‎٢‎١] (٦٥٨/٦٥٢)

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3. It is obvious however that the position at Mirjawa will have to be
regularised. Even if it be found possible from the technical point of view to
construct a new station in British territory near Mirjawa there is, in addition
to the question of incurring further deficit expenditure, the water difficulty.
Water would have to be piped over a considerable distance, its supply
could not be assured, and it is more than doubtful if there is sufficient water
available for two stations. It would consequently appear necessary to retain
the present station but to come to some agreement with the Persian Govern
ment defining the situation in a more satisfactory manner. The tract between
the red and blue lines referred to by Colonel Keyes is of little, if any, value and
the definition of boundaries would effect only a small income from duties on
assafcetida collected.
Should the Persian Government raise the question, it would be difficult
to refuse delimitation, but as boundary questions once raised'are apt to assume
importance and raise issues disproportionate to the intrinsic value of the area
involved, it might be more convenient to secure such rights as we require in
Mirjawa by obtaining from the Persians the grant of extra territorial rights
over a small area abutting on our own border.
4
fy
Enclo. to Serial No. 49.
No. 9-B., dated Camp Quetta, the 13th March 1924.
From— Lieut.-Colonel T. Keyes, C.M.G., C.I.E., Political Agent, Kalat, and
Liaison Officer,
To—-The Secretary to the Hon’ble the Agent to the Governor General in Baluchistan.
As there appears to be a prospect of the Mirjawa-Duzdap section of the
Nushki Extension Railway being handed over to the Persians, I have the honour
to draw attention to certain problems that will then arise.
2. As water in sufficient quantities cannot be found between Dalbandin
and the frontier, it is clear that Mirjawa is the only possible place for the
exchange station.
The result of the misunderstandings due to the unworkable award of the
Ano'lo-Persian Commission of 1896 is embodied in the agreement of 1905
fAitcheson^s Treaties,. CIX, page 223). By this agreement our small post (now
abondoned), on the left bank of a stony nullah called Darah Ghiaban, which
runs from the Kachha hills into the Ladis-Mirjawa-Tahlab river below Mir-
jawa, was allowed to take water by carrying from the Mirjawa irrigation
channel. When this agreement was made there were no buildings at Mirjawa.
which consisted of a. small patch of poor land irrigated by a channel taking off
the Ladis-Mirjawa-Tahlab river at a point about 7 miles, up stream. Ibis
channel lost the greater part of its volume from evaporation and percolation
and in summer dried up entirely.
The advent of the railway necessitated the improvement of the water
supply ; and now the whole flow of the river, except in flood time, is taken
from a ‘kachha band 5 into a sum ph, thence by pipes into a head reservoir,
whence it flows for about 4 miles through a 12" pipe into, another reservoir.
Here there is a divide which gives fth to the Bekis, the original owners of the
water, while the remainder flows through two 6 pipes tor .the.use of the
Railway, which bore all the expense of the work, and maintains it. Asa
result, the Rekis now get a considerable supply for their summer crops, and for
their winter crops more than double what they use to get.
3. Mirjawa station is situated on what must be considered, in accordance
with the agreement of 1905, as Persian territory.
Prom the formation of the ground, and the levels it is impossible to place
the British portion of the exchange station on what is Brit s
territory. Two courses are therefore open to us. Either to ^pist the froQtier
by curving it for a few hundred yards so as to leave on out side sufficient land
for our part of the exchange station, or acquire extra territorial r.gats over this
small area. . ,
The area required, which would not be more than a few acres in extent,
would not include any portion of the land cultivated by e e is.