Page 170 - PERSIAN 9 1931_1940
P. 170

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                         There is a si aft of 70 persons who clean up the Town. An infirmary is kept
                      up.
                         No accounts have been or are being published for 1933.
 )
                                                 SECTION 4.
                                              Military and Marine.
                         The Military garrison of Buslnrc was increased in January by the addition
                     of the garrison of Ahram, Kliawaz and other stations which wore replaced by
                     Road Guards.
                         1,800 new rifles were distributed to the Bushire and district garrison.
                         The Bushire recruiting office was re-opened inAugust and the papers of all
                     youths who were exempted last year were re-examined. About 750 youths were
                     enrolled including those from Borazjan from where the taking of conscripts was
                     started for the first .time.-
                         In May a Colonel of Military was sent to Buslurc to investigate complaints
                     of conscripts. The men apparently complain of severity of discipline anil bad
                     living arrangements. Judging by our standards the discipline seems lax and
                     the living conditions are evidently better than a large number of the men would
                     otherwise experience.
                         The Persian Navy, under the command of Major Ghulam Hussain Khan
                     Bayendor, has been cruising up and down the coadt and has had quite an excit­
                     ing year, capturing sailing boats and helping to put down smuggling. Those of
                     the sailing boats which were armed often put up a stout resistance and- only
                     gave in at the last moment. The gunboat “ Karkas ” is the sole boat without
                     a capture to her credit. She, however, landed a party at Bushire which pro­
                     ceeded to search some houses, thereby grossly offending the land authorities,
                     who, as in most eventualities, wrote to Tehran about it.
                         One captured smuggler overstepped the bounds of Persian decency by
                     giving away the fact that some of the money taken from him had stuck to the
                     fingers of the Captain of the gunboat. Captain Pishwa, Commander of
                     ** Chahrookh ” was duly summoned to Tehran.
                        The captures are as follows :—
                                                                         Sailing boats.
                            Sloop “ Palang 99                                 6
                            Sloop “ Babr ”                                    1
                            Gunboat “ Chahrookh 11                            2
                            Gunboat “ Shahbaz ”                               2
                            Gunboat “ Simurgh 99                              2
                        That the sailors have no desire to serve voluntarily may be judged by the
                     fact that to induce those to serve on whose enforced period of service has ex­
                     pired—15 Tomans pay a month and food and clothing is being offered. The
                    conscripts in the Navy as in the Army only get 74 Rials a month ; this pittance
                     too was, as regards the Navy, 3 months overdue at the beginning of the year.
                        Disarmament of Tribes.—The collection of arms from the tribes was con­
                    tinued as ’in the previous year. More than 400 rifle were confiscated.


                                                 SECTION 5.
                                                   Aviation.
                        Imperial Airways continued their service over the Arab side of the Gulf.
                        About twenty-four privately owned British aeroplanes were flown over
                    Bushire either Eastwards or Westwards bound.
                        A notable flight which landed in Bushire was the Houston Mount Everest
                    Expedition.
                        Two of the other planes were piloted by women.
                        Dutch.—The K. L. M. continued their weekly service lliroughout the year
                    without any mishap.
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