Page 18 - PERSIAN 9 1931_1940

6

The Municipality have great difficulty in recovering taxes as man/ persons
have become impoverished owing to depression of trade. Several traders left for
Shiraz during the year.

SECTION 4.
Military.
General—Tn June the Amniyah headquarters and barracks were shifted from
the town to Bahmani village (adjoining the Telegraphs) and accommodated in the
commodious building called. Malik’s House, which, has been rented for the
purpose.
Recruitment.—The Recruiting Office which was opened' m 1930 at Bushire
was closed down on the 9th July, when Yawar Khan Lar Khan, Recruiting Officer
.left for Tehran.
A large number of exemptions, chiefly on grounds of hearth, were granted. The
population of Bushire is notoriously unhealthy, and in many instances the exemp­
tions were justified, though a certain number were obtained by bribery. There
were occasional desertions.
Disarming Campaign.—The efforts commenced during the fast two years to
disarm the population were continued during the year under review.
During the months of March and April the Kerman Regiment commanded by
Barhang Abdullah Album Khan visited the Shibkuh region and had collected about
1,200 rifles by the 15th April when most of the force moved to Dashti, where 341
rifles were collected. Later on the military recovered 100 rifles and 2 machine
guns. These machine guns had been captured last year by the tribesmen from the
military.
With the help of Reza Quli Khan of Ziarat, the Military disarmed most of the
inhabitants in the Dashti and Dashtistan districts. In Balook (in Dashti) Shaikh
Abdur Rasul, son of the late Shaikh Husain of Chahkotah, tried to avoid surrender­
ing his arms, and was called to Bushire. His Nadkhuda was flogged until he dis­
closed the presence of 80 rifles hidden in the Shaikh’s house. The Shaikh was des­
patched to Tehran.
Rais Asad, a rebel, captured Baghak in September, but was dislodged. On the
21st September, he killed an Amniyah guard and wounded another. He then
occupied Khaviz and turned out all Shirazis who were preparing lime-juice for
export. He, however, surrendered in October, after several encounters with the
Military.
In the first week of October, an Amniyah detachment was besieged in Oli
village, and only released on the intervention of one Saiyid Bahmiar on the condi­
tion that they would cease disarming the'place.
In August 2 of the 4 old 21 C. M. Austrian howitzers were sent from Bushire to
Shiraz.
800 soldiers arrived in November at Borazjan to operate in Dashti and
Tangistan.
900 arms mostly old rifles were recovered from Dashti and despatched to
Shiraz &t the end of the year.
In the last week of December the rebels who were holding out in inaccessible
hills in Dasliti attacked the Government troops and killed about 40 soldiers in one
action.
Persian Marine.—Eushire Port. On the 2flth January 1931 Colonel E. V.
Collier, Engineer of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Limited, Abadan, arrived at
Bush ire from Abadan in order to advise the Persian authorities regarding the pos­
sibility of constructing a port at Bushire. He informed the Governor of the Per­
sian Ports that the existing charts were of sudi doubtful accuracy that a detailed
survey .would be necessary which would probably cost £5,000 to £0,000, while a
very rough estimate of the cost of work was £150,000. He suggested that the
Persian Government should get into touch with one of the large firms of contrac­
tors that specialise in this kind of work.