Page 376 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

22 PERSIAN GULP ADMINISTRATION REPORT

over and helped to garrison tho German house. They professed to be neutral
and loyal to their Government until the order came for them to leave Kerman,
hut then they definitely joined the Democratic rebels and went into open
mutiny.
Mr. Locoffrc was the head of tho Department at the commencement of tho
year and continued to work on his own
Revenue Dcpnrtnxhit.
lines. He attempted to revise the assess­
ment of the tax on animals, which is une of the items of tho General Agricul­
tural Assessment and, because it was only one item, lie seemed to consider that
his own decree was sufficient, though in a number of eases it meant nearly
doubling tbo total assessment payable. This naturally raised a storm, ami
nearly all the villagers within a forty mile radius streamed into bast in tho
Persian Telegraph office and remained there until their representations to
Tehran elicited orders for the restoration of the status quo. In June, tbo
Minister telegraphed to IT is Majesty's Consul offering to recall Mr. Lecoffro
and to send a good man in his place. His Majesty’s Consul gladly accepted
the offer and, after a very leisurely winding up of his official and private
affairs, Mr. Lccoffre departed for Tehran. He handed over charge to Mirza
Ismail Khan, a well-educatccl Tehrani with good financial abilities but without
sufficient character and firmness to successfully administer the department.
Consequently the revenue of the Province suffered. Tho opium tax was always
unpopular in a district in which about 90 per cent, of the people are opium
smokers, and therefore difficult to collect. Mirza Ismail Khan simply let it go.
Other payments which should have been realised he with equal equanimity
wrote off as un-realisable and prepared a budget statement anticipating a deficit
of some tomans 30,000. Several months he was only able to find the salary of
the Governor-General by getting the Manager of the Bank to discount bills for
him. These be had been able to meet up to December, but the Treasury was
empty and nothing coming in when the Democrats took charge of affairs. A
gentleman- from Kurdistan was appointed to succeed Mr. Lecoffre but he had
only got as far as Ispahan by December and it is net likely that he ever took
up his appointment.
The Moham-ul-Mulk successfully hcld-the post of Karguzar throughout
*the year although three times dismissed.
Tho Karguzari.
At the end of the last year his dismissal
was being urged by His Majesty’s Consul in Tehran, but the order was dis­
regarded by the Karguzar and tacitly passed over by the Foreign Minister.
In response to repeated complaints from European Firms and further repre­
sentations from His Majesty’s Consul, an order was passed making Habibullah
joint Karguzar but, as the Moham-ul-Mulk put him in another room when
dealing with cases, the arrangement was not a success. No Firms would have
anything to do with the Karguzari and, so far as the commercial community
went, there ceased to be a Karguzar. But the Moham-ul-Mulk was the most
active and able Democrat in Kerman and his influence politically was most
injurious. Repeated and urgent complaints from the Governor-General and
His Majesty’s Consul were so far successful that a telegram was again sent to
the Moham-ul-Mulk ordering him to return to Tehran. This he simply put in
his pocket and, when asked by the Governor-General whether be bad received
it, he practically told him to mind his’own business. Tehran took no steps to
enforce the order and it simply did harm and further weakened the
authority of the Central Government. The third dismissal was, as already
recorded, in December but as the Democrats were then in open rebellion against
the Central Government it was more than ever brutum fulmen. When the
European community returns to Kerman the Moham-ul-Mulk will probably
be found still sitting in the Karguzari.
Dr. Chiriaieff held charge of the Russian Consulate throughout the year.
Eolations between tho two Consulates
The Russian Consulate.
were uninterruptedly friendly. Tho
Russian Consul was caught unprepared by tho Democrats' coup and His
Majesty's Consul had to assist him in settling up and getting away from
Kerman. Ho and his Staff marched down to Bandar Abbas with the British
colony,