Page 498 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911_Neat
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4 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULF
General’s wish was ultimately complied with, on the 18th of January, and he
left Shiraz on the 5th of February, Zafar-us-Sultaneh being appointed to suc
ceed him.
Mr. J. H. Bill, I.C.S., of the Political Department of India, made over
charge of the Consulate to Mr. Smart of the Levant Consular Service, on
the 4th of April. Mr. Smart had arrived from the north, vid Ispahan, travel
ling with a strong Sowar escort, which again escorted Mr. Bill back to Tehran.
The latter was attacked between Abadek and Shulgistan by a party of Kuh-
gelu, on the 15th of April. Mr. Bill, realising that his caravan was about to
be attacked, determined to try conclusions with the party while they were yet
in an open country; he and his sowars came into contact with the robbers and
succeeded in putting them to flight. Three of the gang however, having been
rounded up, showed fight, and two Indian sowars were killed in the skirmish
which ensued. Mr. Bill himself fortunately escaped unhurt. Compensation
of 5,000 tomans each for the two sowars killed was claimed from the Persian
Government, and specific measures for re-establishing the security of the road
were discussed with them. Meanwhile, the new Governor-General, Zafar-us-
Sultaneh, reached Shiraz on the 29th of May, with 800 infantry and 200
sowars; all, however, armed with obsolete rifles, and none supplied with cart
ridges.
The new choice proved to be a mere farceur, his only virtues seeming to be
opium-smoking and an insuperable objection to any kind of work. He only
lasted until the end of July when he was dismissed as incompetent, the situ
ation in Shiraz having been rendered considerably worse by his short sojourn.
He was succeeded, as a temporary measure, by Kawam-ul-Mulk, a notable of
Shiraz, whose appointment was strongly resented by the now powerful Sowlet-
ed-Dowleh.
During September, the situation in Fars and Laristan became worse, and
it was suspected that the Sowlet was deliberately promoting disorder in order
to force the Persian Government to give him chief control in Fars. Finally,
on the 14th of October, the patience of Eis Majesty’s Government having been
exhausted, His Majesty’s Minister was authorised to present a note to the
Persian Government to the effect that, if order was not restored on the Bushfrc-
Shiraz-Ispahan road within three months, we should insist on the formation
of force of road-guards under British officers. The terms of this note and the
intentions of the British Government were much discussed and misrepresented
in the Press, but at any rate they bad the effect of arousing the Persian
Government to some sense of the gravity of the position. They replied how
ever with many specious arguments, imended to show that there was no real
justification for the delivery of the British note, that British trade in the
south had not suffered, and that the Persian Government were taking all pos
sible measures to remove causes of complaint. One of the remedies promised
was the appointment of an effective Governor-General to be amply supplied
with funds for the creation of a special corps of road-guards. The difficulty
was to find the individual to take up. the thorny post of Governor-General of
Fars. The selection eventually fell on the actual w Nizara-us-Suitaneh." Thi9
individual, under the title of Sahr-i-Moazzim, was Governor of the Gulf
Ports at the time of Lord Curzon’s visit in 1903. Afterwards, as Salar-i-
Mukarrara, he became* Governor of Arabistan, aDd then, on the death of his
uncle, the old Nizara-us-Sultaneh, in 1908, succeeded to the latter title and
became Governor-General of Kermanshah. A strong administrator, though
with a bad reputation for cruelty and rapacity, he had done good work at
Kermanshah, and if anybody could, in the present condition of the state of
Denmark, bring a measure of order and security to Fars, it was hoped that be
might. His arrival was awaited at the end of the year, pending which the
Kazerun route remained still closed; scarce caravans however passed from
time to time over the Firuzabad and other routes under the Sow let’s control,
and there was a slight improvement in the general situation.
His Majesty’s Government having agreed, on the recommendation of the
Resident and the Government of India,
nga*' to appoint^ a British offioer as Vice-Con
sul at Lingah, tentatively for a period of three years, the appointment was
