Page 361 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

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uniform - a battle drece of serge presum-bly supplied by
thu Americans.
Until August 1944, charge of the f ont of Officer
Commanding, Yezci was held by Sarhong Furzund, but on bin
transfer to Ahtjf&z Captain Szudi assumed the cou/uaiid which
he continues to hold- Conscription haa been in force
v.ith its usual evils throughout the -eriod under review.

VI - COMv ICATI0K5
The main roads have been open for traffic/?, but apvrt
from the one mentioned below, no udbition.1 roaus v.ere buila
anywhere in thia .rea, nor have the necessary repairs to the
existing raids been carried out.
The hines Department 3t Anar a k (125 mile* north of
Yezd) hat constructed 2 stretch of ?bout 25 miles of motorable
shingled rcadf thereby connecting the Tnlmasi copper mines
v.ith Anarsx.
VII. 2CC"Cy.JC CONDITIO? o
Throughout the year under review the food position
at Yezd was satisfactory, As regards other economic condi-
tier.?, these have been no better than elsewhere in this
country. However such trade v.a= possible under existing
we2 conditions, hue been satisfactory and consequently the
local population, the majority of v.hora are cnftsraen, their
main profession being hsncloom weaving, did net appear to be
hard hit.
Eut with the Allies1 invasion of Europe in the sunder
of 1944, economic condition-5 changed rapidly end became a source
of grave ir-xiety to the local population, Money ceased to
circulate, and the ^rice- of 1-aded property, sugrr, tea,
foreign ana local cloth and cotton yc.rn in particular, fell by
*t le»st od.4« Consequently a number of local merchants
became bankrupt.
Eventually, general economic conditions began to
improve srhowly though the instability of the market and dis­
satisfaction among the people as regards future conditions
continued. Owing to an acute shortage of water, for irri­
gation purposes, the situation was not *c-tisfoctory, but thanks
to the E.S.R., foodstuffs continued to pour in from Khoracan,
Shiraz, Bushire anu Bandar Abba*, tu.ficient to meet the
requirements of the local population!
At the beginning of the year, the Anglo-Iranian Relief
Committee, Tehran, apart from providing valuable medical
relief to the poor of the town, placed » sufficient sum of
money at the disposal of the locsl A*I.R. cub-committee to
feed the destitute#. It wn* due to thi* help that a total
of 75,CC0 destitute people were fed on "ash" for a period of
five months. In addition to this s l3rge quantity of tu^ar
and tea (both in beverage and dry form) plus 1000 yard* of
white cloth was distributed free among the poor people.
VIII. LOCAL POLITICS.

As the party of Mohammed Iluseiin TTswab and Mohammed
Culsb-n suffered a complete defeat at the hand* of their rival
pea*ty lea by Dr. Tar.iri ana 3oid Kszln Jalili during the 1943
elections, tne former p«rty apparently axbundoned all further
activities and consequently the political atmosphere * a* on
the whole undisturbed during the year u$der report.

Following /.