Page 285 - PERSIAN 9 1931_1940

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With a view to obtaining information on the subject from India.
Arrangements are now being made for Hie engagement of an expert from
India and the formation of a small company, with a capital of Rials 120,000
(about £1,500) whose headquarters will he at Ram, the biggest town in the chief
indigo producing district, of the province.
The question of the establishment of an agricultural farm in Kerman is still
under consideration and the Governor-General has again sent a proposal to
Tehran on this subject.
Locusts.—According to information received in June, swarms of young
locusts were seen in the vicinity of Sirjan, some 150 miles to the south east of
Kerman, at the latter part of .May, hut no information could be obtained as to
when and where they have been hatched.
Steps were taken by the local authorities and land-owners to destroy the
insects before they could fly and a large number were thus destroyed.
The information reached this Consulate a little too late and steps taken to
procure samples of the insects proved of no avail, nor could any reliable details
he obtained regarding the species, as the locusts had completely disappeared
by the middle of June, without causing any serious damage to the crops.
The direction eventually taken by these locusts was variably stuted as north
and north-west.
The above was the only incident brought to notice regarding visitation ot
locusts in the Kerman province.
Murtaza Mirza Qahramani, Chief Census Officer for Kerman and Persian
Baluchistan, returned from Iranshahr at the end of January and proceeded tu
Tehran in the beginning of February,
Sijill-i-AhwaL
having been suspended by Tehran
because he bad left Khwasli without waiting for the receipt of permission from
the Central Census Administration.
Ni’matullah Mirza Ivamran (Mu’tasim-ul-Mulk) arrived from Isfahan and
look charge of the Census Department early in February, since when ho. lias
held the post of Census Officer for this area (Kerman and Persian Baluchistan).
Ivnmran proceeded to Khwash in the middle of February, in connection with the
establishment of Census Offices in Persian Baluchistan, and returned in the
middle of April. One ollicc was opened at Khwash and other one at Sarawan
during the year.
Acting upon instructions from Tehran, men from the local Census Depart­
ment. started visiting the houses in Kerman in February, with a view to detect­
ing persons who had so far failed to obtain identity papers. The total number
of identity papers issued to the inhabitants of Kerman city and environs up to
date is said' to be just over 45,000.
At (he end of October the Census Officer left for Bandar Abbas cn route to
Oharbar, to establish an office at the latter place, and returned to
Kerman in the beginning of February 1935.
The majority of the inhabitants of Oharbar were forced to obtain identity
papers, including a number of British subjects, some of whom were in possession
of British passports, while others had applied for renunciation of Persian
Nationality. This gave rise to the complaints received by the Political Resi­
dent and Ilis Majestyfs Minister, Tehran, as the result of which His Majesty’s
Consul received orders to proceed to Charlmr at the latter part of November.
A largo number of the inhabitants, including some of those who had applied
for permission to retain British nationality, fled to Gwadur and other places in
British Baluchistan, on the arrival of the Census Officer at Charbar, in order to
avoid being forced into taking Persian nationality papers.
10. Local Politics.—Since the anniversary of the Martyrdom of Ali, in the
early part of January, the observance of Friday holidays by the local shop­
keepers, including non-Muhammadans, has been strictly enforced by the Police
authorities.
The Muhnrram ceremonies in the latter part of April passed off quietly, and
the processions were less elaborate than in the previous year.
L.2/3FJ?