Page 387 - PERSIAN 4 1890_1899

RESIDENCY AND MA8KAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR THE YEAR 18M-07. 0
Mubarec, who had failed to get their recognition of his claims on the joint
family property. The sons of the murdered brothers effected their escape.
7.—PERSIAN ARABISTAN.
At the opening of the yoar the Nizam-os-Sultaneh was continued in the
Governor-Generalship wliioh ho had held, and remained in office until event#
compelled his recall some months later.
In June a midnight attack, of a most brutal and murderous character, was
committed upon Mr. Tanficld, an employd of Messrs. Lynch Brothers, by a
Persian in his service, the final escape of the victim with life, though fearfully
mutilated, being almost miraoulous.
i
After considerable delay the assailant was carried to Tehran, and there
imprisoned. In January of this year a strong mob after pillaging a caravan of
Messrs. Lynch Brothers, in transit between the town and river, a few miles
distant, attacked and completely sacked the office of Messrs. Hotz in the town.
The embargo on the export of wheat, though not officially suspended,
remained, as reported at the close of last year, virtually in abeyance. Its
enforcement was again notified in July by the Governor-General, only to be
followed immediately by an intimation from the Government, through Her
Majesty's Legation, of its removal. The harvest gathered in the spring of
1896 wa9 abundant, but prices nevertheless rose after a few months, the
average for the year being more than double those for the preceding year,
owing mainly to the short crop in Mesopotamia. Prospects for the coming
harvest were doubtful, and in January of this year a general prohibition of
the export of fcod-grains was notified, to take effect in March; it was,
however, unnoticed by tho local authorities on the Karun till April.
Exceptionally high floods on the Tigris In the spring of 1896 caused a
considerable rise of the Karun, and damaged the date crop, of which the yield
was consequently poor; prices were therefore considerably higher than nsual.
Trade generally was satisfactory, the returns showing a large inorease in
the total volume over the previous year,
8.—FARS AND PERSIAN COAST.
The supreme and tragic event of the year for Pars, as for Persia in
general, was the assassination of the Shah. Within a few days of the celebra­
tion of the Jubilee of the fiftieth year of his reign, the preparations for which
were in a forward state, His Majesty Nasr-ud-Din Shah was shot on the 1st
May at the shrine of Abdul Azim which he was in the habit of visiting, a
few miles distant from Tehran. Death followed almost immediately.
His Royal Highness Rukn-ed-Dowleh, brother of the late Shah, retained ih*
Governor-Generalship of the Province at the annual spring settlement. In the
end of July news was received that a new appointment had been made. The
new Governor-General, Nazim-ed-Dowleh, did not, however, reach Shiraa, to
assume the charge of the administration, till late in October,
The Kirs province suffered again from the ravages of locusts, though the
direct injury caosed by this plague was lessened by the precaution which appear#
to have been largely adqpted, of substituting the cultivation of barley for that of
wheat, as bariey ripening earlier than wheat, and before the power for mischief
of the insects is fully developed, enjoys immunity from their attacks. While
there was a scarcity of wheat therefore, the barley crop was reported to be
abundant.
The value of the copper "pul” fell four-fold in Shiraz, or from 20 to 80
for the kran. The dislocation of the monetary system thus entailed had to b#