Page 226 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

84* PERSIAN GULP ADMINISTRATION RETORT
an unnecessary way. In this matter His Majesty’s Consul supported th
as it was most important from tho British point of view that tho 0 Sl>aikh
Shaikh in such matters should he clearly marked. riS'its of the
At first the Customs Director, though acknowledging tho ri«ht
Shaikh, rofused to act as desired, and finally, tbo Shaikh, in his capao*f
Director General of Customs, dismissed tho offending individual on }i as
authority. A further case occurred in which Monsieur Fourman dKm-°*n
the Chief of the Shaikh’s guards without referring the matter to the
first. Though it is possible that there may have been ground for comiri*^
against this man, the action of the Director was highhanded and tactless aJ\ *
the assault, to which I have referred, taking place the Belgians immedV t ]
ascribed it to the Shaikh’s instigation. Four days ilatcr a further incid *
occurred in. which some of the quarantine employes had a quarrel with th*
Captain of the Customs steam launch Mazanderan ”.
Tlie dispute was due to the fact that the Captain and his men had bather?
naked near to the place where the women were in the habit of goin" to fefoh
their water. ° ^
The w Mazanderan ” was anchored near to the shore and, aftor
his ship, the Captain appears to have been roundly abused by men of the
quarantine guard. He immediately weut on hoard the * Persepolis*’ an(j
after seeing Captain Depiere, went ashore and waylaid one of the quarantine
guards.
A fracas resulted in the course of which one of the guards, in struggling
with one of the sailors, fell on top of him. The sailor received some internal
injury and died the same night. The whole affair was subsequently admitted
to be a simple accident and the quarrel quite unpremeditated as far as the
quarantine men were concerned, iudeed tins was evident from the start, hut Com­
mandant Depiere ascribed this event also to the instigation of the Shaikh. Ia
actual'fact the Shaikh was quite unconnected with either affair. He is too
clever a mau to think of paying olf a debt in such a maimer as an assault on
Belgian officials, attention from Tehran being the last thing which be desires.
He had the previous year asked His Majesty’s Consul to warn British subjects
against walking on the desert unattended, especially during the date season
when Arabs of all types are about.
These questions have all settled down and the relations between the Shaikh
and Customs appear cordial.
Abadan.—At the end of December 1912 the Belgian Administration placed
a Persian Post Office at Abadan, within
Post Office*.
the limits of the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company’s concession, in the building which the Company had supplied to the
Customs Department for the purpose of a Customs surveillance post.
This step was taken without consulting either His Majesty’s Government or
the Anglo-Pcrsian Oil Company, the object being to obtain the profits arising
from the correspondence which issues from Abadan and 'which at present goes
to swell the takings of the British Post Office at Mohammcrah.
Objection was immediately taken to this action on tho part of the Belgian
Administration. It would have been impossible for the company to consent
to a public Persian Post Office being place ! within their concession since it J5
necessary that their full control over tho movements of the public within their
limits should be maintained owing to the danger which might arise from smo -
ing, or tho careless striking of lights. It would have been equally impost .
to permit the breach of concessionary rights which was committed by the F°s
Department in their method of instituting this branch office.
All the Company’s correspondence is sent direct to Mohammerahjjy
launch or carriage. The object of the postal authorities was to divert this stre?^
of correspondence into the channel of tlieir own department, a process " ^
would gradually have been extended to the other out-offices of the Com! . ^
which would thus have been forced to depend upon the unreliable 1
system for the transaction of its business. HU Majesty’s Consul accoru o