Page 560 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

04 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULF
No official visitors passed through the district during the year under
-review, exoept Sir William Willcocks,
Visitor*.
who, accompanied by Mr. Storrs and
Lieutenant Wilson, His Majesty’s Acting Consul, Mohammerah, had come to
inspect the Kut Nahar Hashim lands, with a view to irrigation. The project
was favourably reported on by Sir William WiUoocks.
Dr. and Mrs. Carr of the Church Missionary Society, Ispahan, visited
Ahwaz, Mohammerah, Shushtar, Dizful and Ram Hormuz on a medico-mis­
sionary tour in January and February.
Mr. David Fraser, correspondent for the Times of India, passed through
the district in January, having visited the Oil Fields en route, from Ispahan
to India.
Mr. Hale of the Imperial Bank of Persia, and Lieutenants Noel, 44th
Merwara Infantry, and Gray, R.E., passed through the district towards the
end of the year, the former en route to Shiraz, the latter two to India.
In October, Prince Troubatskoy, a Russian, passed through en route to
Ispahan. He gave out that he was travelling for sport and pleasure.
In addition to the above, various other travellers of minor importance
passed through the district.
As foretold in the paragraph on this subject, forwarded at .the request
w of His Majesty’s Acting Consul, Moham-
tb?2EZ DisSStitati02al Institctioas “ merab, for inclusion in the Moham-
merch Consulate Administration Report
for 1C00, Constitutional Institutions in the towns of Northern Arabistan and
Ahwaz have made no progrecs whatever, their retrogression being such that
they are now only noticeable by their absence, which also is applicable to
Bchbehan; and in* the meanwhile reactionary views are daily expressed more
freely and openly.
The nomadic Arabs and the hill tribes of the Ahwaz Consular District,
with the exception of the Bakhtiaris, are still unafleeted by and unprovided
with Constitutional Institutions. Among the Bakhtiari tribesmen however
the spirit of unrest and independence is spreading rapidly, with the result
that the tribes are rapidly losing their former fear of their Chiefs and their
power to coerce tbems
The Bakhtiari Khans are now reaping the first fruits among their own
-tribesmen of the u azadi ” (freedom), which they themselves planted and
tended so assiduously in 1809—and a bitter fruit it is proving to be.
Crops.—The rainfall in. the winter of 1809-10 and the spring of 1910
proving sufficient, good crops were ob­
Miscellaneous.
tained and wheat for export plentiful.
Meteorological.—Total rainfall 14-63 inches.
Maximum temperature 116*6° in August.
Minimum temperature 35*6° in January.
Ahwaz Consulate Agents, etc., in Arabistan and elsewhere in the Con­
sular District of Ahwaz.—A Secret Service Agent was maintained throughout
the year, in charge of the Dizful Consulate House, and friendly relations
were maintained with many of the leading men of both the towns of Shushtar
and Dizful, notably among whom were Shaikh Muhammad Hussein, Chiei
Mujtahid of Dizful, Shaikh Muhammad Baqir (Dizful), Mirza Tahir Khan,
Mustafi (Accountant-General) of Shushtar, Seyyid Abdulla Imam Jp®aJ?
Shushtar, and Mirza Abdulla of Shushtar, the latter corresponding with ri
Majesty’s Consul as unpaid Secret Service Agent
Id April 1910, Mirza Ali Akbar of Burujird was appointed “Ne^s-
writer ” and Secret Service Agent of the Ahwaz Consulate for Luristan,
which post he continued to hold throughout the remainder of the year, au »