Page 31 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

RESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR lDOft-lOXL 21
and was objected to by the Director, Persian Gulf 8ection,both on sanitary and
departmental grounds. The site was eventually changed at tho end of
October and another chosen to which the Telegraph Department had no
objection.
In December owing to an intimation that one of the PlagstaCFa and the
Customs Houso were to be moved to the Arab village by order of the Derya
Bcgi, the inhabitants again appealed to the Sultan of Maskat whom they had
first approached on 29 th November; and at the same time renewed their
importunities to the British Authorities.
Meanwhile discussion had been going on in Tehran between His Majesty’s
Legation and the Persian Government as to our tenure and the limits of the
Telegraph Station, the Foreign Minister producing the original concession and
arguing from it that only houses were mentioned, not ground. His Majesty’s
Government, however, held that the acquiescence of the Persian Government
in tie actual facts of occupation from 1868 to 1880 must be regarded as
equivalent to formal concession of land occupied.
Early in March an agreement was come to on the spot between the
Director,* Persian Gulf Telegraphs, and the Belgian Director of Customs at
Bunder Abbas for the allotment of an unobjectionable site.
However, the Arabs again began to get uneasy when they realised that a
building site in our limits had been granted to the customs, and the Sheikh,
Ahmed bin Obeid, intimated on 28th March that he was unable to restrain
bis men any longer. The Customs Authorities did not however see fit to
suspend operations, and under these circumstances His Excellency the Naval
Command<*r-in-Chief Sir Edmund S. Poe, K.C.Y.O., who was at the moment at
Bunder Abbas with the Flagship, was asked to send a ship to Henjam to
ensure the safety of our Telegraph staff. At the same time His Majesty’s
Chargd d'Affaires urged upon the Persian Government that pending the
conclusion of negotiations between tbe two Governments building work should
be suspended. Meanwhile HALS. Fox had been promptly despatched to the
island by the Admiral and remained there for some weeks to come.
On 31st March it was suggested by the Residency that the Persian
Government should now be iuformed that we recognised politically their
sovereignty over the island but that the necessity for safeguarding the welfare
of our Telegraph staff in the future obliged us to insist on the maintenance of
tbe status quo as far as the Arab village w as concerned. This proposal was
supported by the Government of India and was under consideration by His
Majesty’s Government when the year closed.
At the beginning of the year under report, owing to the frequent raids
which were being made on caravans on
Biulurr*Shimz road.
the Bushire-Shiraz road by petty Chiefs
along the route, this main artery of traffic was fora time abandoned in favour
of the less convenient Ferozahad route. Eventually, after continued pressure
from the British Consulate, Hi§ Royal Highness the Shoa-es-Sultaneh arrested
and punished several of tbe road-guards whose conduct had become intolerable,
and for a short-time afterwards there was an improvement, but this was only
temporary and by September the road-guards had reverted to their former
blackmailing tactics. Captain E. F. Redl, Indian Army, en route to Meshed
via Shiraz and Tehran was menaced by them at the beginning of September
and about the same time a caravan of Messrs. Dixon and Company’s goods
was molested and robbed near Konar Takhteh. At another spot near Pul
Abgineh a naik of the Transport Department in charge of 100 mules bought
by Major Arbuthnot in Ispahan was held up for some hours and blackmail
was demanded from him at. 10 Shahts per mule. Representations were at once
made to the Fare Government and at an audience with His Imperial Highness
on 14th September Mr. Grahame wns assured in reply to his protests at the
misconduct of tbe road-gaurds, that it had been decided to replace them by
guards of regular infantry supplemented at intervals by a few sowars.
The sarbazes were duly sent, three to each post to assist the tofangohis
but no sowars were actually deputed. Eor the rest of October and November