Page 28 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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CHAPTER II.‘

Karan River Navigation and Irrigation schemes, 1871-79.

(i) History of the Schemes from 1871 to 1877.
60. Tho. river Korun figures prominently in our records of 1857, when
Major Beii'i jccovnt e/ Bntiik Wan icitk during the Anglo-Persian war, three
river steamers Comet, Planet, and Assyria
each towing a gun-boat of 24 pounder howitzers, asoended up tho river from
Mohammerah with 300 British troops under tho command of Captain Bonnie.
The expedition left on 2nd March 1857 and proceeded up pursuing tho Persian
Army numbering about 8,000. It reached Ahwaz on 1st April. The troops
funded and dispersed the enemy. As peace was concluded, the expedition return­
ed soon aftor,
61. The earliest record we have got on tho question of the opening of tho
ftaruq to foreign qpmmerce begins in the year 1871 and runs up to the year
1879, when there occurs a gap, which opens up agaiu in 1881.
62. In July 1.87l> the firm of Messrs. Gray, Paul & Co., addressed Sir Lewis
Pelly, then Resident, Persiau Gulf, regard­
Politic*! A, October 1871, Noe. 662-661.
ing tho navigation of the Karun. They
suggested that the Persian Government might he induced to support a scheme by
subsidizing a. line of steamers which they would be prepared to run under con­
tract. They pointed out that by steam communication between Mohammerah and
Shuster goods would reach Ispahan from tho coast in ten days, while by the
land routes the time occupied is from 30 to 35 days. The application was sent
to Mr. Q* Alison, then Hep Majesty’s Minister at Teheran, Sir Lewis Pelly. re­
marking that he had long been impressed with the physical advantages of the
line. Mr. Alison thought the time was then unfavorable. All tho available
resources of the State were being-employed in keeping the people from starva-
tion, and he did not think the Shah's Ministers would he prepared to enter into
the contract. In forwarding the papers to
Political A, Jane 1872, No. 601.
Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India,
the Government of India remarked that the practicability of the navigation of:
tbe.Ka.run as far as Shuster had been established but that, under the circum­
stances, they were hot then prepared to give any practical support to the. scheme
proposed.
63. About the same time, Mr. Dawes, of the firm of Gray, Paul & Co.,
proposed to the Persian Government the
Political A, Janaary 1872, Not. 100-112.
construction of a line of railway from the
Persian Gulf to Teheran via the Karun, Shuster, and Ispahan. Ho proposed
that the Persian Government should give a guarantee or some, other material
support, and that the concession should include the privilege of working
steamers on the Karun. The proposal came to nothing. The Government of
India forwarded a copy of the papers to the Secretary of State for India with*
out any remark.
64. In June 1873, Mr. Dawes addressed the Under-Secretary of State for
India. He remarked on the annually
Secret, December 1878, No. 23.
increasing proportion of Russian goods in
Persia, and again urged the opening of the Karun for navigation, and the
construction of a line of railway from Shuster to Ispahan. He said—
“ Mohammerah is a good port, and in this respect has a great advantage over Bushire where
ships have to anchor four miles from the shore; steamers navigating tho Karun would
exchange traffic with the mail steamers to and from India, and the river boats plying between
Bu«reh and Bagdad. The province of Khuzistan, in which are situated Mohammerah, Shuster,
and Bizful, is the most fertile and well watered in Persia; misgovernment has reduoed it to
^J^compHing this chapter, I Ur* otiliied conaiderablj one or two precie compiled in the Foreign Department U