Page 39 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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they .could to find suitablo Concessionaries who would undertake the construction of tho .Powian
portion of.tlio line on copditions wliioh should bo favourable to t-Jie Persian Government."
Tho Turkish Ambassador told Mr. Thomson that tho idea conveyed to the
mind of tho Porsian Minister by Mr. Zinoviow’s communication was that Russia
desired, as a countor-stako to tho English scherao for establishing a through line
of railway from Europe to England by Mesopotamia and the coast of tho
Porsian Gulf, to promote tho construction of a line from Tiflis to Tehran, with
a view to its extension eastwards in tho direction of Herat.
87. On 25th January 1870, Mr. Thomson telegraphed to His Excellency
the Viceroy that the Shah had ordored a lottor to be read to him which HiB
Majosty had addressed to tho Minister for Foreign Affairs. In this communica­
tion the Shah absolutely refused, in very peremptory and arbitrary terms, to
entertain the request of Her Majesty’s Government for tho openiug of the
Karun River. His Majesty remarked—
" that tho insistence of Her Majesty’s Government with reference jo tho Karun aroused his
•uspicions, tbat-Persia wao not a dependent but an independent power, that if his consont was
requested in the, matter, ho decliacd to give it, and that if force was contemplated, that was
*aothf;r thiflg, &o”
88. A telegram wa9, however, received from the Secretary of State on 1st
February, stating that tho Shah had retracted this letter, which was written in
a moment of irritation, but that lie will not assent to the opening of the Karun
River until ho has had a judge on the spot as to its advisability.

(iii) The Karun Irrigation Concession.

89. In December 1875 Dr. Tholozan, Physician to tho Shah, proposed* to
tho Persian Government tho grant of a
• Secret, Juno 1876, Noi. 52-65.
Concession to a French Company for works
of irrigation in the districts adjacent to the Karun River, the working of mines
and forests, the improvement of land, and manufactories of all kinds. Dr.
Tholozan was a man of much ability and groat influence with the Shah. It
was believed from the general terms used in the proposed Concession that it
had been drawn up with tho object of securing a monopoly or preferential
right oyer other Companies without exciting the suspicions or susceptibilities of
tho Persian Government. One of the projects was to re-construct the ancient
dam of the Karun River at Ahwaz, so as to irrigate oxtensivo tracts of fertile
soil now waste. Ahwaz is 4.S miles south of Shuster, to which place it was pro­
posed to run steamers. In Major Euan Smith’s opinion, the reconstruction
of the old bund would mean the virtual, if not the absolute, closing of the river
above Ahwaz, and would be fatal to the cstablisfnnent of a paying line of
steamers on the Karun. Besides, ho said, tho establishment of French interests
in the south of Persia would ho most prejudicial to us in evory way, tending
to hamper us politically and commercially in all we did. Mr. Taylour
Thomson also recognised tho importance of preventing, if possible, the estab­
lishment of a French or other foreign colony in the province of Kuzistan, to
the prejudice of British interests there, as well as at Moliaramerah, the latter
place so valuable to us from a strategic and commercial point of view. He
also considered that the grant of such a Concession would render the settle­
ment, by amicable arrangement, of Baron Reutor’s claims impossible. He
accordingly endeavoured to impede its
Seerot, Scptembor 1876, No. 97.
acceptance. Though the Shah was at first
personally well-disposed to Dr. Tholozan and his proposal, it was rejected in
July 1876.
90. Whenf the Shah was in Paris in 1878, the scheme was again
t Fromi h.M'i. cbarg* d’Aifairei. Tobcron. No. brought forward and discussed, and a fresh
iutefoJ'roJelgn AfffilV la78, 101110 SocrcUry of draft of the proposals prepared, but noth-
t From A Hilt ant Secretary. Political- and Socret in" Was . concluded. On 3rd September
uepanueut, No. 95, daiod 26tu September 1878. 1878, Mr. Ronald Thomson telegraphed}
to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs that a Railway Concession for a
line from Resht to Teheran and tho Ahwaz Concession had been approved by