Page 620 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

20 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULP
Until April, tho condition of the Bushire-Shiraz road was fairly satis­
factory, though occasionally closed by
Condition of trodo route* in Far*.
the Nizam’s operations at Kamarij,
heavy snowfall had indeed rendered it almost immune, until the end of
February, from the attentions of raiding parties, whilst after that date tho
fear of reprisals by the Nizam-es-Sultanch kept the local tribes from robbing
caravans; but frequent robberies occurred between Shiraz and Ispahan and
formed the subject of reiterated and energetic protests to His Majesty’s
Foreign Office on the part of leading Manchester firms; the same who, with
equal vehemence, protested against any attempt on the part of Great Britain
to take any overt measures to restore the situation.
Two robberies were even perpetrated in the sight of the “ Fars Expedi­
tionary Force” whose commander, however, declined to move against the
robbers. So loud at this period were the complaints of British firms, who
suggested that they might have to discontinue shipments, that the Foreign
Office, at the end of May, suggested that the time had come to insist on the
scheme adumbrated in our note of October 1910 being taken in hand, as the
Secretary of State found it difficult any longer to refute the arguments of the
interested parties. On 7th June, His Majesty’s Minister in reply pointed
out that, if we pressed our scheme, we would greatly embarrass the Persian
Government, whose equilibrium was none too stable; he feared that insistence
weald hav* Ijttle result and that we must be prepared to undertake measures
necessary to compel the acceptance and execution of our scheme, which would
probably involve the temporary occupation of the trade routes. Robberies
had, as a matter of fact, been few in number during the first part of the year,
though the state of the roads was in other ways very unsatisfactory, and
trade stagnant, the Customs revenue returns, which showed an increase
over previous years, being for several reasons fallacious if taken as an index
of tho condition of British import trade.
The problem of the condition of the roads was, in fact, overshadowed by
the developments at Shiraz, for though it might be possible to send up goods
from Bushire to Shiraz with safety, the anarchy prevailing in the surrounding
districts made it impossible to distribute merchandise, with the result that
trade remained at a standstill. In June and July traffic between Shiraz and
Ispahan showed a tendency to improve, although the Nizam’s authority
appeared to be weakening; in September tre Bushire-Shiraz road was parti­
ally, and in October entirely, closed by disturbances, whilst on the Shiraz-
Ispahan road robberies on a large scale were of frequent occurrence.
On October 12th, a large caravan with over £2,000 of British goods was
robbed near Abadeh by Kuhgilu tribes­
Case of Miss Ross.
men, and an independent medical practi­
tioner, Miss Ross, travelling at her own risk from Ispahan to Shiraz, was
robbed of everything she possessed. A few days later a body of 300 Persian
soldiers was attacked near Yazdikbast, losing 10 killed and 20 wounded.
On 30th October, when attempting to continue her journey to Shiraz,
Miss Ross again fell into the hands of robbers; her Persian guard fled at sight,
and left her to be robbed and maltreated, the robbers even going so far as t:>
remove the whalebone from her corset. This repeated outrage brought home
vividly to the Press in England the state of the roads in Southern Fersia,
and Ilis Majesty's Government subsequently consented to send a squadron
of the 39th Central India Horse to Abadeh to escort Miss Ross to Shiraz,
where she ultimately arrived in safety.
The Bushire-Shiraz road was opened to traffic again in November, though
still very insecure; and in the interval between the arrival of the first and
second parties of the 39th Central India Horse at Shiraz, two Japanese mer­
chants who were accompanying a large caravan with, but in front of, a
detachment of the 79th Carnatic Infantry en route to Bushire, were robbed.
Like the Shiraz-Ispahan road, it was closed again shortly after the
passage of the main body of British troops; and, except for the chequered
passage of the detachment accompanying Mr. Smart in December, remained
co until the end of the year*