Page 538 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF TUB PERSIAN UULP
42
The British Indian Post Office worked satisfactorily throughout the year;
tne establishment of the Bank made little difference to the volume of Money
Order traffic. An arrangement was come to whereby the Bank took over the
Post Office surplus cash, and credited the Treasury at Bushirc with an equi­
valent sum.
A daily passenger and private postal service was carried on for the first
time, in December, between Basrah and Mohammerah, and was most conveni­
ent.
Three cases of piracy were reported to His Majesty’s Representatives at
Bushire or at Moharamerah as having
Find os.
occurred in or near the Shatt-el-Arab,
or by residents of the banks of that river. The first case took place about 14th
February the victim being a Bushire mashwa: the pirates were Arabs. No
lives were lost, but about Rs. 800 worth of goods were stolen. Nothing has
been recovered.
The second case took place on the 7th March, cn the bar. The pirated
boat was owned by an inhabitant of Bandar Rig. The pirates were Arabs from
Ma’amar and Dorah led by some exiled Shaikhs of Qasbat-al-Nassar, domiciled
since 1904 at Kuwait. No lives were lost, but Rs. 10,000 in cash and goods
stolen. Nothing has been recovered, and though the Shaikh of Kuwait sent
some of the Shaikhs implicated to Shaikh Khazal, they were later on released.
The third case was perpetrated on a Kuwait boat, and is no doubt dealt
with in the report of that agency. The pirates were Arabs resident in Turk­
ish territory, but subjects of Shaikh Khazal. Their Turkish domicle made
it impossible for the Shaikh to arrest them, and nothing was done in that
direction up to the end of the year.
The Shushtar-Dizful road was frequently unsafe, and the environs of
Dizful were at no time of the year free
Communications.
from the depredations of the Sagwand.
Those pans of Arabistan under the jurisdiction of the Shaikh remained at
peace throughout the year, and no case of robberies from British subjects were
reported. The robberies which occurred in the Kharran lands are reported
on separately.
The Persian steamer “ Nusrat" ran
throughout the year, as also did the
Karun Navigation.—Lower River.
Malamir ” and the Tug “ Bulbul.”
A mass of pipes fell into the river during the spring rises, the bank on
which they were piled having been cut away by the water. They constituted
later on a grave danger to navigation, and Messrs. Lynch Brothers eventually
arranged to salve them for the Oil Company. This was still being done at the
close of the year.
The Persian steamer “ Shushan ” (Lynch Brothers) and the Persian
steamer u M’awin ” (the Nasiri Com­
Karuo Navigation.—Upper River.
pany) continued to run throughout the
year.
The question of the Shalili shed was not raised during the year, and
Messrs. Lynch enjoyed undisputed use of it.
• question of the ownership of the Darreh Khazineh lands was not
rai^d during the year as far as the Oil Company’s landing place was con-

r Company found it necessary to supplement the carrying capacity
of the Shushan and “ M’awin ” by an oil launch towing two barges. The oil
launch was sent over the rapids, on April 23rd, after permission had been ob­
tained from the Persian Government, not without great difficulty, and only for
a period of one year. His Majesty’s Legation however informed the Persian
Government that they would expect permission to be renewed at the end of the
year, and it is not likely that serious difficulty will arise on this score.
The importation of three barges for use with this launch was objected to
vehement}} by the Persian Government, and it was not found possible to obtain
the permission for their use. His Majesty’s Minister therefore authorized