Page 204 - PERSIAN 9 1931_1940

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A representative of the Syndicate from Tehran, said to be a Polish’ Sub­
ject, visited Kerman in February to study the
Agriculture.
question of improving the methods for pro-
paring dried fruit for export.
Unusual frosts in the early spring caused considerable damage to the fruit
blossom.
There was decrease in the amount of wheat and 'barley harvest in the
vicinity of Kerman town, during the year, due to damage done to the under­
ground water channels by the floods of the previous summer, which has been
estimated at. 500,000 Mans. It will be some time before all these channels can-
be restored to their former condition.
Locusts.—No locust invasion of the province was brought to notice during
the year.
Mirza Mohamad Ali Khan Dabir Ilahi, the Chief Census Officer for Area*
No. G, including Kerman and Persian Baluchis­
Scjill-i-AInval.
tan died iu June and Mirza Abdullah Khan
Isfamh’ari, a Census Officer on leave from Tehran, was placed in charge until
the end of August, when, having been summoned to Tehran, he handed over
acting charge to Samzadch, the next senior official. Murtiza Mirza Qahramani
was eventually appointed Chief Census Officer for this area in October and
remained in charge for the rest of the year.
Sartip Fnrajullah Khan, Director-General of the Census Administration in
Persia, arrived from Tehran, on a tour of inspection, at the end of November
and returned to Tehran in the middle of December.
Qahramani visited Iranshahr and Khwash at the end of the year to establ­
ish a Census Office for Persian Baluchistan.
In spite of many warnings issued to the inhabitants of Kerman, there are
still a large number of people who have not yet applied for a paper of Identifica­
tion. In accordance with a circular received from Tehran at the’end of the
year, the Census authorities have started sending men round to each house and
calling upon each person to produce his or her Identity paper.
10. Local Politics.—The fall of Timourtash and the arrest of the War
Minister, at the end of the year, apart from giving rise to many wild and con­
flicting rumours, have created a subdued feeling of resentment and suspicion
against the present regime, especially among the disaffected, whose number is
decidedly on the increase.
The power of the Mullahs continues to be on the wane, though there were
indications at the latter part of the year of the local authorities being more in­
clined to humour this class.
The Muhurrum ceremonies in the early part of May passed off quietly and
without any untoward event. The processions were if anything further
curtailed and the slashing of heads, which was not attempted even in out of the
way villages in the province, is already a thing of the past.
Barring a few anti-British articles, for the most part copied from Tehran
papers, in connection with the Anglo-Persian
Press.
Oil Company affair and the Basidu incident,
nothing objectionable to British interests appeared in the local press during the
year.
Besides the two local weekly papers, which have maintained a more or less
regular publication, there were two others which had stopped publication for
some time past. In anticipation of a handsome income which they hoped to
obtain by printing notices in connection with the registration of property in the
province, they too appeared again, on the establishment of the Registration
Office. A contract, however, had already been made in Tehran in the meantime
with the Editor of the * Sitarch-yc-Johan 9 for the publication of these notices
in the latter paper. As the result of representations made to Tehran, it has since
been agreed to give the bulk of the remaining work to the two more permanent
local papers.
11. Health and General Welfare.—Dr. Suhrab Bnrkurdar, remained in
.charge of the Health Department in Kerman throughout the year.

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