Page 251 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

AND THE MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY TOR THE YEAR 1007-1000. 67

CHAPTER IV.
ADMINISTRATION REPORT OP THE KERMAN CONSULATE
EOR THE YEAR 1907-1908.
The personnel of the British Consulate was unchanged during the year. British Con­
sulate.
The Russian Consulate was strengthened in October 1907 by the arrival Russian Con­
sulate.
of Mr. Pctroff as Secretary to tbo Consul. Before his arrival he was frequently
referred to as the coming Vice-Consul but on arrival was introduced in his
proper capacity of Secretary, the first grade of their Consular service.
The experiment of leaving a hoy of nineteen to govern the Kerman Local politics,
district with practically nothing behind him resulted as was only to be
expected. He exorcised a nominal rule in Kerman itself for some months,
while in the districts his rule was not even nominal, the districts after the
departure of thePerman Perma going steadily to pieces.
In Kerman itself one Mohamad Husain, the Nazim-ut-Tujjar, with a
Naib of Fnrrashes named Haji Ibrahim started a popular propaganda with an
agitation for the immediate election of the local Majlis. When they first
started the agitation the Tehran Parliament had not passed the necessary Acts,
and when the Acts were passed they did not meet with the approval of the
Nazim and the Naib. Their following being almost entirely composed of the
riff-raff of the town and the artisans, they objected to the other fivo classes
having the same number of representatives each on the Majlis, and olaimed
that as the labouring classes formed half of the population of the town they
should elect six members out of the twelve and the other five classes the
remaining six between them. Relations between thorn and the Governor
soon became strained, and they wero soon both enjoying the hospitality of the
British Telegraph Office under the peculiarly Persian institution of “ bast.”
Prom this safe position they pressed the point strongly against the Governor,
and with true Persian egotism even wired to the Tehran Parliament to
amend the Act with reference to Kerman. The Parliament not unnaturally-
refused to do this and telegraphed to tho Governor to teize the Nazim and
send him up to Tehran.
The Governor brought the telegram to me and asked my advice. I told
him that I considered any attempt to seize the Nazim alone would be fatal
and even if he could seize both the Nazim and the Naib it would be very
risky. All the telegrams to him had come over the Persian wires and were
therefore distrusted by the people. I advised him to bring the point to a
clear issue between the Parliament and the Nazim and Naib and to get his orders
over tho British wires, so that the people should not he able to accuse him of
tampering with them but would clearly understand that the Nazim and Naib
were defying the Central Government and not the local Governor. The
Governor, however, went his own way, and managing to lure the Nazim out of
“ bast ” seized him and hurried him out of the town.
The Naib immediately gathered the whole following, closed the bazars and
organised au attack on the palace. The small force in the palace shut the gates
and fired on the mob killing five and wounding several more. The Naib and
the mob then paraded at the British Telegraph Office with the victims and all
went into “ bast.” The next morning the victims wero a*ain paraded before
the Russian Consulate and a certain amount of violent language used to the
Russian Consul, they were then again taken to the Telegraph Office and
photographed.
At this point the other current joined in and the stream, became too
strong for the young Governor and swept him out of KermaD. The Mirza of
the Russian Consulate, the Amin-ul-Islnm, had a private grudge against the
Priuco because ihe Fefman Forma had treated him as the low*caste individual
that ho is and refused to accept his position in the Russian Consulate as any
claim to social rocoguiiion in tho palace. The Shcikhi Khans had been pressed
by tho Governor to open up their stores of wheat and sell it at a price which
represented an actual loss to thorn, and they had beou loug waiting for their
revenge on the Deputy-Governor—tho Adil-os-Saltaneh—lor the anti-8heikhi