Page 252 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

68 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF TIIE PERSIAN
GULF POLITICAL RESIDENCY
p'iHEs” sSttSsS

ll.oy accordingly put themselves at the head of the movement and carried
hall the mob over to the liussian Consulate, the Amin-ul-Ldam being most
“VT® lrn\fc,hls ““doironng the people all they wanted if they would leave the
.British Telegraph Office and go ovor to tlio Russian Consulaio.
The Russian Consul made a Poor pretence of joining mo in trying to
...
reconcile the two parties, hut was largely coerced and partly voluntarily led
to side with the popular party who then refused to ho satisfied with the
dismissal of the Deputy-Governor, but insisted on the dismissal of the Governor
as well. They got their way, and the Governor was re-called to Tehran.
The Nazim was brought back to the town in triumph, and though there
lias been a nominal Deputy-Governor in Kerman and several nominations and
cancellations of Governors by the Persian Government, the Nazim and the
Naib have siuoo then ruled the Kerman city to all intents and purposes.
They at onco elected a local Majlis according to their own emendation of
the Act of Parliament, but the Majlis has not been particularly happy either
in its internal harmony or outside confidence. The general anarchy throughout
the district, resulting from the absence of any central authority in it, dislocated
all business and reduced the value of carpets bv 50 per cent.; carpets being the
chief industry of Kerman and tho Nazim’s following being chietly composed of
the workers in it he has naturally lost most of his popularity with his own
followers. lie and the Naib have managed to offend the Muilas, the merch­
ants, the respectable classes generally and the sarbazes and every one of them
lia9 bad it brought home personally to them that any authority is better than
none at all. The Slieikhi Khans have found that the many-headed is also the
many-mouihed and as neither the Nazim ortho Naib started with any money
in their possession the expense of keeping these mouths satisfied devolved on
them and they are thinking that the game was not worth the candle. The
Russian Consul gained a small temporary popularity largely mingled with
contempt which is more than effaced now and he must be sorry that he did not
show a bolder front and take a longer view than he did. This Consulate is
now recaping the reward for maintaining a correct attitude towards both sides
and it is recognised with respect that neither intimidation nor personal feeling
will make a British Consul disregard his orders and that ho only receives ouo
set of these.
The Districts. Except under an unusually strong Governor-General like the Forman
Forma, Baluchistan has never been much more than nominally a Persian
possession or paid much respect to Persian authority, hut the Persian bold on it
has never been so feeble as it is just now. Early in the year a young chief who
resented a fraudulent re-sale by the Governor of his ancestral fort which he
had only just purchased himself from the Governor held it with only a dozen
followers against the Persians, shooting a Sartip and about twenty men. By
way of vindicating Persian authority the Governor retreated to Banipur and
then resigned his Governorship and left Baluchistan. After a consideiab e
interval, another Governor was appointed and, after a protracted further deny*
he actually went to Baluchistan. He stayed for a short time practically in a
state of siege in his fort and then returned to Bam. Another chief turne aa
honest penny by collecting the customs at one of the ports, but unfottuna e y
for himself found that this brought him into collision with outside nutuori -
Otherwise tho Baluchis have been surprisingly quiet and have neither ouD
among themselves nor raided into Narmasltir or neighbouring districts.
In Narmashir there has been a good deal of conflict between the P°PU
Ei
V party and the Khans. The local Anjuman in Bnu seem to have t-'Ken oj
uncompromising an attitude as the Majlis itself and will stand no °I'P .
from the Governors whom they turned out on the slightest provocat*00'
case of the Nasr-ul-Mamalik they pulled down his house and burne w »
they could lay hold of in it. The sarbazes sided with the Khans ^
tirnc and there have been several conflicts between the j-arbazes a - I 1
but the popular party have at last won over the sarbazos and tm*w the
re-actionaries without a backing and they have had to subscribe to
constitution.