Page 614 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

14 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULF
activity of the police in levying new taxes, without the co-operation of the
Kalantar, was the murder, within the precincts of the Turkish Consulate,
of the Deputy Chief of Police, already referred to. The origin of this
incident was an attempt on the part of the gunners, many of whom arc also
petty traders in private life, to induce shopkeepers to close their shops as a
protest against tne proposed taxes, in order to frustrate which the Deputy
Governor and Deputy Chief of Poli* 3 went to the bazaar and remonstrated
with the malcontents, with the results already recorded. The unpopular
position of the Rais-i-Nazmieh was suppressed, as a result of the incident
and has not been revived up to date.
Local Garrison.—The local garrison remained during the year in its
usual state of inefficiency. The force which left Bush ire in August of the
previous year, owing to the non-receipt of their salaries, were not replaced
till May,* when 300 sarbazes under an officer arrived from Shiraz. They
arrived with considerable arrears due to them and continued to receive their
pay at Bushire very irregularly, if at all, though at the same time the
Governor forbade them to follow the usual practice of Persian soldiery, and
eke out their exiguous salary by petty trading. The result was that, early
in December, a party of 3-10 sarbazes with 20 of their petty officers took bast
under the Residency flagstaff (as was done in August last year), stating that
they had not been paid for 14 months.
The Governor was approached unofficially, and a sum of 7,000 Tomans
extracted with much difficulty and paid to the sarbazes, who left sanctuary'
a fortnight or so later. Later on. not having received their claims in full,
some of them gave the Turkish Consulate a turn and took bast there, and were
still giving trouble to that Consulate and the Residency by their importuni­
ties at the close of the year.
Thirty gunners arrived in May, in relief of a previous detachment, but
appeared dissatisfied with their lot, and seven of them had disappeared by
September. Fifty Persian sowars also arrived from Shiraz at the end of
April fr. duty; their fortunes were the same as these of the sarbazes referred
to above, with whom they acted in concert.
The year was marked by exceptional unrest and local tribal conditions
Condition of BusELre ?nd rurrouading dis­ were the cause of considerable anxiety
trict*.
towards the close of the year. The
attempts on the part of the Nizam-es-Suitaneh to recover arrears of revenue
from various local Potentates disturbed the whole countryside, and, in the
result, left the various recalcitrant Khans, such as Zair Khadhar and Jamal
Khan, in a stronger position than before, a state of affairs which the failure
of the Central Government to appoint a successor to Nizam-es-Sultaneh has
now stereotyped.
The proscription of the Nizam-es-Sultaneh. and the abortive decree of
confiscation against his lands, kept the unrest alive throughout the autumn,
and, in November, a more serious state of affairs supervened in connection
with the landing of a regiment of Indian Cavalry at Bushirc, en route to
enforce the Consular Guards at Shiraz and Ispahan, and the protection of
British lives and property at those places, and in particular at Shiraz.
It was an unfortunate coincidence that this step synchronized with the
strengthening of the already large bodies of Russian troops located at vari­
ous points in the north of Persia, and was closely followed by a threatened
Russian occupation of Tehran and the outbreak of serious, if unofficial,
hostilities in Tabriz between the “ fedais ” and the Russian troops; whilst,
in Europe, Italy had simultaneously declared war upon the Ottoman Gov­
ernment in Tripoli and thus, together with France and Spain, became
engaged in sanguinary hostilities with the Muhammadan tribesmen along
the southern littoral of the Mediterranean Sea.
It was unfortunate too that our Consulate at Shiraz, by being compelled
in the spring to give “ bast ” to the Kawam, had become in the eyes of the
Kasbgai faction in Fars pledged to his support; as in consequence of this
there was a widespread belief that the ulterior object of the arrival of
British troops was to attack the Kashgai and curb the uncontrolled license
which they nad for some years enjoyed. Apart from this the apprehended