Page 446 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

CHAPTER VI.

ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S
CONSULATE FOR ARABISTAN, MOHAMMERAH, FOR THE
YEAR 1909.

Consequent upon an exchange of posts between the Government of India
in the Foreign Department and the
Consular appointments, Mohammerah.
Foreign Office, Mr. W. McDouall, who
for 18 years had been stationed as Vice-Consul and Consul at Mohammerah,
was transferred to Kcrraanshah, and Captain L. B. H. Haworth, I.A., His
Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Kermanshah, was appointed Consul for
Arabistan. The Mohammerah Consulate was now brought within the sphere
of the Persian Gulf Residency. Mr. McDouall left Mohammerah to take up
his new post on the 27th July, having handed over charge temporarily to
Lieutenant A. T. Wilson, I.A. (at the time in charge of the Indian Oil
Guards), on the 24th.
Captain Haworth proceeded direct from Kermanshah to England on
sick leave.
His Excellency Haji Saif-ed-Dowleh, who arrived at Nasiri in October
190S, as Governor of .Arabistan, re­
Local authorities.
mained in Mohammerah or Nasiri as
Shaikh Khazal’s guest, until May 1909, without once visiting Shushtar, the
nominal capital of the province and the seat of the Government.
Scon after the death of his grand-daughter, Shaikh Khazal’s wife, Jamil-
ec-SuItaneh, he applied to the Central Government for leave to resign, which
cot being granted, he left by the Bckutiari road without more ado.
In October 1CC9, Fakhr-ul-:Iulk, with his son, Fakhr-uI-Maraalik, and
k ££an<k°n’ IzZ'Ul-Maraalik, arrived at Shushtar from Ispahan to take up
the Governorship, which had been held during the interregnum with some
success by Shaikh Khazal. On arrival at Shushtar he was coldly but politely
received by the local headmen, whom he rated soundly-for having paid arrears
of revenue to fehaikh khazal. This rather injudicious step caused temporary
estrangement between him and the latter, and the situation was not improved
by the more or less successful euorts he made to introduce a Constitutional
regime into Arabistan. Re was unprovided with any troops when in Shush­
tar, and was without anv moral or physical support in bis task of recovering
arrears of taxation and'safeguarding Dizful and the Dizfui-Shushtar road
from the raids of Arabs and Sagwands.
The local ‘ medjliss ’ which he convened in Shushtar and in Dizful were
viewed with disfavour by the principal townsmen, and it cannot be said that
the constitional regime has proved a success up to the present.
tv r^S Srandson, a young man of about 25, was sent as Deputy Governor to
Dizful at the end of October, under the protection of Assad Khan and the
leading men.

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