Page 658 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

ADMN. REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULF POLITICAL RESIDENCY FOR 1911.
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Tho murderer of the 6ccond Parsi is said to be well known, but no action
has been taken, on the plea that it is difficult to obtain evidence. Tho bfistii
were at length persuaded to leave the Consulate on July 23rd. At this time &
riot against the Parsis of Bam was organized, but was promptly suppressed
by some of the local Khans.
The news of the ex-Shah’s return to Persia excited some interest but
stirred no deep feelings. The Azarbaijani Turks and others were opposed to
his cause, but the general sentiment seemed to be that, despite his former
failure, any state of affairs was to be preferred to the feeble and corrupt rule
of the Mcajliss. Opinions were, as a rule, guardedly expressed as long aa
the issue remained doubtful, but the local Qajar Khans consulted the Consul
regarding the despatch of a telegram of welcome and congratulation to
Muhammad Ali Mirza.
After the dismissal of Prince Jalal-ud-Dowloh Sardar-i.-Muhiyy was
appointed Governor-General of Kerman “ and Baluchistan.” There wai
much agitation in Kerman against this appointment. Numbers of people,
instigated by local demagogues, took bast in the Persian Telegraph Office and
sent vehement telegrams of protest to Tehran, and so much violence was used
against the carpet weavers to compel them to support the agitation by stop­
ping work and joining the bastis in the Persian Telegraph Office that they
took bast in the Consulate and would not leave until they had been guaranteed
against molestation. The appointment of Sardar-i-Sluhiyy was cancelled
either in consequence of the agitation or because his services were required
aeainst the ex-Shah. The opposition to the appointment seems to have arisen
from his reputation which indicated that he was likely to be an- efficient
governor, and therefore obnoxious to the local demagogues and office-holders.
The news of the action taken by Russia in Northern Persia caused more
excitement than the normal attitude of the natives of Kerman to public affairs
would seem to warrant. The bazaars were closed, the two Consulates were
boycotted, a habitual visitor to the Russian Consulate was shot at and
wounded, and shopkeepers and others, armed with guns and sticks, daily
marched up and down and round about the square of the city with shouts of
" death or independence.” The public performance was regularly attended
by the Acting Governor, Sardar-i-Nusrat, as a follower rather than a leader
of public opinion. The agitation was unfortunately at its height in
December, when the Coronation Durbar was held in Delhi. The local officials
declined to accept the hospitality of th'o Consulate, from which they are not
usually averse, and it was impossible to persuade anybody to undertake the
illumination of the Consulate. Despite the absence of illuminations, of the
Russian Consul, who was not disposed to venture out after dark, and of the
Persian officials, the occasion was celebrated in a fitting manner.
The artificial nature of the anti-foreign agitation was exhibited by its
instant suppression on the arrival, on December 15th, of Prince Amir-i-Azam
who, having been appointed Governor-General in the place of Sardar-i-
Muhiyy, bad been much delay on his' way from Tehran by disturbances in
Yezd and its neighbourhood. Shops were opened, drilling was stopped in
Kerman and Bara, and cordial relations with the Consulates were at once re­
sumed.
The districts of ‘Rafsinjan and Sirjan have suffered much from Baharlus
and other robbers from Fars, and have obtained no assistance from Kerman.
Owing to the insecurity of the roads and the consequent accumulation in
Kerman of large stocks of carpets which could not be despatched, one firm,
Messrs. Castclli et Freres, discontinued the payment of wages due under con­
tracts to weavers. Some three hundred weavers took bast in the Consulate
35 a protest ostensibly against the cessation of payments, but actually against
tne inefficiency of the local Government, which either could not or would not
zn*11°tain order on the roads. In ordinary circumstances these weavers would
not have been admitted to bast, but as there was reason to believe that they
^gbt turn their resentment against the firm’s agent, a British subject, they
ere received, and the question was taken up on tne basis of the local Govern-
ents responsibility for the security of the roads. With some difficulty a
ntten undertaking to provide adequate escorts at all times on receipt of
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