Page 300 - PERSIAN 4 1890_1899

6 ADMINISTRATION RETORT ON THE TERSIAN GULP POLITICAL

The Surs caused some trouble; tho Al-Kathir tribe, incensed at tbeal'
tion of lands they claimed, began raiding near Dizful, and a punitivo cx^"
dition became necessary. Bauds of lawless Surs however, by their depredati ***
caused tho desertion of many villages in that district. 1 0 Q8,
In order to recover taxes, tho payment of which had been resisted by th
Beni Truf tribe of the Howeizah district, a raid under Syod Naamah was directed
against them and a largo number of their cattle was seized and carried ofL
Tho tribe followed in order to recover the animals, and towards tho close of the
year under report n critical position had been brought about by tho highhanded
proceedings which the Governor-General had taken.
A most brutal attack, which might have bad tho gravest and even a fatal
result, was committed on British subjects in November by the soldiers stationed
at Ahvraz. These men maintained ostensibly for the preservation of peace and
order, have in fact on this and other occasions lent themselves to violence and
excess. On this occasion the representatives of Messrs. Lynch Brothers were
proceeding in a perfectly orderly manner to lodge a complaint with the local
Governor against the soldiery, whose highhanded and lawless proceedings in
prosecuting an utterly unjustifiable search had caused a serious fracas on board
the company’s steamer. The soldiers, some of whom were actually on guard
at the Governor’s House, resenting this lawful and most temperately conducted
action, rushed to their arms and most savagely assaulted the gentlemen, caus­
ing serious injuries. For this gross outrage no redress had been given up to
the close of the year under report, for though a show of it was made by the
arrest of some of those concerned in the fracas on the steamer,—a matter of
comparatively quite insignificant moment,—the actual perpetrators of the sub­
sequent brutal violence were allowed to escape.
A new company under the name of Shah-in-Shahi was established under
the auspices of the Muez-es-Sultaneh and certain Shushta merchants for tho
carrying trade on the Karun.
Difficulties appeared in the levy of duty on goods, owing to tlie conflicting
interests therein of the authorities at the mouth of the river, and of the Govern­
or-General whose sphere of control inland hardly extends in an effective form
to Mohammerah. Double demands were accordingly made, and the matter
was not arranged without an appeal to the Central Government.
In the summer an outbreak of cattle disease on the Turkish side of the
river spread to Mohammerali and the Karun; it continued with occasional
reappearance till the winter, but on the whole with much milder effect than in
Turkish territory and no serious loss occurred.
7.—FARS AND PERSIAN COAST.
Fars continued under the control of Elis Boyal Highness Rukn-ud-Dowlah
whose reappointment for a second year to the Governor-Generalship of the pro­
vince was made public early after the Persian new year. His Royal Highness
appointed his son, Ain-ul-Mulk, Governor of ceitain of the nomad tribes, and
subsequently also of Laristan, and bis younger son, Nasrullnh Mirza, Governor
of Kazeran. Busliire and the Gulf ports were retained by His Excellency
Kowam-ul-Mulk, but towards the end of the year a very determined cabal "as
formed against his authority. The ostensible cause seized upon to bring
matter to an issue was an imprudent attempt to construe as an order lor
peremptory deportation, and to carry out with some indignity, instructions from
the capital suggesting the desirability of the temporary absence from the coun-
try of the titular head of the mercantile community, thcMalek-ut-Tujjar " ^
thereupon at once took' refuge in a neighbouring shrine known as the lwa
Zadeb. This aroused the greatest excitement and a very general and ugoio
popular demonstration was easily got up. Bazaars, shops, and °^e^.^e(j
closed, and business came completely to a standstill and the people J?CS1C,=
the Persian Telegraph Office day and night in large crowds, after ^
manner of the populace in Persia whose first resort in times of publ]Gov-
turbance or panic is to the telegraph. No haste was shown by the Cent1? ^
emmeDt to take measures to allay the excited popular feeling by the is.