Page 187 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

REVIEW BY THE POLITICAL RESIDENT IN TIIE PERSIAN GULF.
3
On the other hand activity on the part of Germany has been fully maintained.
Apart from the Abu Musa Question which
Germany.
is pursuing a somewhat deliberate course
towards settlement no acute issues or causes of friction have indeed arisen, but
there has been a perceptible change in the general demeanour of the t ermau
Consulate at Bushire, since the return of Dr. Listemann from Tehran in Novem­
ber 1907, and the institution can no longer be regarded as the mere post of
observation which it had seemed to be in the past.
At present however, except for some signs of an intention to create'
difficulties for us in connection with the administration of quarantine in the
Persian Gulf, Germany’s activity in the sphere now dealt with can hardly be said
to have ostensibly passed beyond the zone of legitimate commercial rivalry. In
the latter direction the tours of two commercial delegates or experts. Dr. Grothe
in Kermanshah and the north-western provinces and Herr Kurt Jung in the
south, although sufficient time has not yet elapsed for any special results from
their tours to have become apparent, deserve mention, as also does the fact of
the lease by Messrs. Wonckhaus and Company at an extravagant price of some
river frontage at Mohammerah for the construction of a wharf for the storage of
grain under export.
To turn for a few moments to matters more parochial throughout the region
Tenir of the Reports from Agencies in Southern dealt with, except perhaps the territories
P«rsia. of the Sheikh of Mohammereh and the
Bakhtiyari Khans, the Hmentable effect of a year’s attempt at the constitutional
government of the country by a parliament of crude nationalists, full of destruc­
tive energy in their search for reform, but utterly wanting in the constructive
ability necessary to effect it, is rendered only too apparent by the reports of our
representatives. It will be seen that these reports are mainly a record of
incessant chaos and uproar, and that the provincial capitals, Kermanshah,
Shiraz and Kerman, have been unremittingly wracked by bitter strife between
opposing factions.
In the case of Kermanshah the situation was aggravated by active rebellion
against his sovereign on the part of Prince
Un'.vtrsal chaos.
Salar-ed-Dowleh, during which our re­
presentative was called upon to play a most difficult part. In Shiraz again the
discord culminated just before the end of the year in the murder of the Kowam-
ul-Mulk, the Fars notable, around whose person and family the disorders in
Shiraz of the last few years have mainly revolved ; while the situation in Kerman
though her affairs have perhaps been less before the public than those of her
sister capitals has been hardly less chaotic and difficult. Communications every­
where have been absolutely insecure and on the Bushire road alone no less than
15 unexpiated postal robberies have been perpetrated within the last two years
and the number of them is steadily increasing.
Apart from these general conditions of unrest and insecurity for trade, the
absence of effective government and the
The incidents in the Gulf.
activity of the “ Young Persian ” element
have been responsible for two or three troublesome incidents in the Gulf ports,
which have been not a little damaging to British prestige by reason of the length
of time occupied in exacting any sort of satisfaction from the Central Govern­
ment. These are dealt with in the Bushire report. Happily opportunities have
not been denied us, on the other hand, of specifically asserting ourselves in a
useful and more or less public manner, through the Naval service; for example,
by the capture in December of certain notorious pirates ; and again, at the end
of the year, by the extraction of an official apology from the Turkish represen­
tative at Katif for an affront previously offered to H. M. S. " Lapwing •'; and
one can only hope that in the magnifying eye of the public these latter incidents
will be carried with seme compensatory value to the credit side of the account.
With reference to the allusion made above to Mohammerah and Bakhtivari
territories, it is interesting to note to what
Moharr.rr.irah and Da^htjjaii country.
a great extent the peculiar tribal and
semi-independent status cf the communities in question has rendered them
immure trem the direct effects of the national movement, which have been so