Page 181 - PERSIAN 4 1890_1899

RESIDENCY AND MUSCAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR THE TEAR 1S33-M. n
In July a scheme for the taxation of foreigners engaged in retail trades
and industries was announced by tho Persian Government, and has since come
into force.
Tho districts near Bushiro wero again subject to some trouble and disorder.
Khan Ali Khan of Bundor Rig having farmed Angali and other villages in
Dashtistan was resisted by the inhabitants, and Angali holding out after the
submission of the others, was attacked with the support of a gun from
Bushire. In Tangistan there was a still more serious conflict, and Hyder
Khan, though assisted by a detachment of Persian soldiers and a gun, failed
against the Tangsori tribe who, armed with Martini-Henry rifles, compelled
the soldiers to retreat under their steady fire.
Cholera prevailed in various parts and seriously threatened Bushire. It
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appeared at Busrah in May and later at Mohammerah, and spread on the Arab
coast as well as on the Persian side of the Gulf and its islands. Prom the
coast it advanced to tho places on the route leading from Bushire to Shiraz,
and thus Bushire became liable to invasion by the disease both by land and
water, its communications by both being very active.
Quarantine was established against Busrah in June, and subsequently
against arrivals from any infected port, and, though the measures adopted were
framed with the utmost consideration for the interests of trade, was eminently
successful.
In consequence of the spread of the epidemic to the neighbouring dis­
tricts, quarantine was imposed on arrivals by land in September. Special pre­
cautions were also taken to secure the purity of the water-supply, the condi­
tions of which—drinkable water being obtainable only from a limited number
of wells at a distance from the town—lent themselves to these efforts. The re­
sults were remarkably successful, only one case of the disease occurring in the
town and a few on board ships or at the quarantine stations, and this not­
withstanding that a very severe type of the disease prevailed at Ahmedi, only
20 miles distant, and at other places along the Shiraz route.
It is noteworthy that the entire responsibility of devising and controlling
the measures to protect perhaps the most important port of Persia against a
terrible danger, was resigned to a foreign element, for it was solely with
•Surgeon-Captain Lumsden, Residency Surgeon, and his subordinate, that this
burden, in a professional sense, rested, no other medical aid being provided.
The Persian authorities readily accepted the suggestions made, and supported
the measures declared to be necessary, and the Residency Surgeon’s report has
recorded that they “ have given every assistance in carrying out the quaran­
tine work effectively and without friction.” The highest praise was also given
to Haji Ali Dubasli, one of the Port officials, for the excellent work done by
him in carrying out quarantine regulations.
His Excellency Rear-Admiral W. R. Kennedy visited Bushire en route
to Busrah and Baghdad in March, and was received with salutes on arrival by
H. I. M. S. Versepolis, and, on landing, by a battery on shore. His Excel­
lency was visited by the Saad-ul-Mulk, whose visit was returned.
Affairs in Shiraz and the neighbouring districts continued in a very
disturbed state. It appeared that at the beginning of the year order bad
been restored by the newly appointed Bcglar-Begi in the city ; but the sup­
pressed popular excitement broke out again in an acute form in the
middle of May, when the populace tumultuously assembled at the Telegraph
Office and insisted on transmitting a petition to His Majesty the 8hah
regarding the high price of bread, the fall in value of copper coin, and the
presence of the Baharloos and Arab tribes in the town. Feeling also ran very
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