Page 274 - PERSIAN 9 1931_1940

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CHAPTER V.
Administration Kki'ORt ok IIis Majesty's Consulate, Kerman, for the year 1934.

A.—British Interests.

1. Ilis Majesty’s Consulate—Personnel.—Major C. II. Lincoln, 0.13.E.,
remained in charge of the Consulate throughout the year.
#
Major Lincoln left for Bandar Abbas, on tour, on the 39th January and
returned to Kerman on the 25th March. He proceeded on a short visit to
Tehran on the 20th May and returned on the 2nd June. A short visit was paid
to Bandar Abbas, in company with Major Pvbus, Military Attache, to His
Majesty’s Minister, Tehran, between the 19th and 23rd June.
His Majesty’s Consul left for Bandar Abbas, en route to Charbur, on the
26th November, to enquire into the complaints received from certain British
subjects at the latter place.
2. Consulate work, etc.—(a) 29 British subjects were registered at the
Consulate during the year, the number for 1933 also being 29.
(b) The espionage on the Consulate, which continued during 1931 and
1932 and relaxed in the early part of 1933, was again revived for some time in
October 1934, when men of the local Secret Police were seen t«> be prying
round the Consulate and houses of members of the clerical staff. It was again
relaxed after His Majesty’s Consul left for Charbar.
(c) The King's Birthday was celebrated in the usual manner on the 4th
June. A reception was held in the morning and attended by the Goveruor-
•Goneral, his assistant, the Chief of the Municipality, the European community
and heads of foreign firms. InjLhc evening a dinner party was given, to which
the three Persian officials mentioned above find all members of the European
-colony were invited. The Governor-General was unable to come to the latter
function, owing to sudden ill-health, while the Chief of Police was absent on
Loth occasions, on the ground of his having been recalled and his relief’s arrival
being awaited tlie same day.
(d) Four British Indian motor drivers from Zahidan complained to the
Consulate in the month of April that the Police authorities in Kerman had
confiscated their driving licences and told them that foreigners were not
allowed to work in Persia as motor drivers any more ! The local Chief of
Police, who was approached privately by the Consulate, explained that the men
had been taken to task not on account of their nationality, but because they
had failed to comply with transport regulations. Private enquiries, however,
elucidated the fact that the interference by the Police was nothing more, or
less, than an attempt to induce the parties concerned to part with a portion
of their hire, and, as the complainants eventually proceeded to Yezd without
calling at the Consulate again, it was presumed that the matter had ended by
an 4 amicable ’ settlement.
(e) An ignorant cultivator incurred the Governor-General’s displeasure
in August by remarking that the hulk of water in a certain under-ground channel
had increased through,the activities of a former British Consul. The offender,
after being profusely abused, was taken to the Government House in a car, but
released after severe warning.
The channel in question is the one passing through the Consulate grounds
and, having been properly repaired by the efforts of Lieut-Colonol E. W. C.
Noel in 1930, is one of the few that were not affected by the floods of 1932.
(/) Steps were taken early in the year to have the Consulate buildings
and garden, as well as the Christian cemetery, registered at the local Registra­
tion office. The necessary fees were paid and the required formalities fulfilled,