Page 453 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

BRITISH CONSULATE, SHIRAZ
Appreciation of local conditions.
July to December, 1945.

The last six months of 1945 saw a change of holder in the post
of Governor-General of Fars. General Firuz who had left Shiraz for
Iehran in June last rather than stand up to his opponents sat in the
capital for some months apparently in the hope that these same
opponents would ask him to come back. They were unrepentant and
after the names of many possible successors had been mentioned
Firuz was replaced towards the end of December by Farrukh.
Immediately prior to his appointment to Shiraz Farrukh had been
appointed Governor-General in Tabriz but did not proceed to this post
as he was unacceptable to the Russians.
2. Qavam ul Mulk had been the chief opponent of Firuz and it was
now the turn of the Qashqai to come froward as chief opponents of
Farrukh. They declared objection to Farrukh was that he was hasty-
tempered. But they also saw in him a survival of the Pahlevi regime
(he previously served under Pahlevi as Gbvernor-rCeneral of Fars) and
a further objection was that Farrukh was a friend of Muadel, the
Shiraz deputy who is a particular'enemy of Khosru Qashqai. Opposition
to Farrukh was general and not limited to the Qashqai and his
appointment is said to have been at the insistence of the Shah.
Farrukh is said to be able and honest but rough in his handling of
people.
3. The arrival of Farrukh coincided with a serious deterioration
of the position in Azerbaijan sc that the end of the year saw Qavam
and the consulate attempting to persuade the Qashqai that it was in
the interests of Persia that Farrukh, whom they wanted to chase away,
should stay and thus give the Russians no opportunity of saying that
there was unrest in Fars as well as in Azerbaijan. Behind the
Qashqai objections to Farrukh lies their ambition to be the Warwicks
of Fars.
4. The absehce of a Governor-General for more than six months had
a serious effect on the administration particularly from the point of
Yiew of grain collection and distribution of monopoly goods. Already
before the withdrawal of the last British officer seconded for grain
collection landlords were refusing to sign fresh contracts for deli­
veries from the next harvests and even to honour contracts signed
for deliveries of grain from the last harvest. Shiraz, in consequence,
started the winter with an empty silo and nothing better than hand-
to-mouth arrangements to ensure the supply of bread to the town.
5. Continued scandals marked the administration of the department
responsible for the distribution of monopoly goods and embraced an
Inspector specially sent down from Tehran to enquire into the situat­
ion. Distribution of monopoly goods was grossly defective and
generally months in arrear.
6. The newspaper ^editor appointed as Mayor by General Firuz from
outside the usual cadre in the hope, that a local man would study
local interests and please the populace soon became the object of
complaints that went as far as the Imperial Court and legal
proceedings were commenced against him. The fact that he was
penniless when he took over the job and at the end of the year was
building himself a new house was, even if no other evidence existed,
weighty evidence against him. The Municipality remained behindhand
In payment of wages, in debt, without a budget and apparently
unable to* get funds even for essential services*
7. The lack of a Governor-General had very much less effect on
tne armed forces than on the civil administration. In fact as Firuz
/ was a* • •