Page 461 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

37
POR THE YEAR 1010.
Tho town Police, in spito of various changes of thoir chief, have been.
fairly satisfactory, and since the suppres-
0 ,co* sion of an outbreak of Democrat “ Night
nlacards*' and of housebreaking, in Septembor, tlicro has been little crime in
the town.
'Reference to these has already been made. Tho value of tho force is
purely negative. They do little or no­
Qanuurnn (Road £uurd»).
thing to prevent robberies, but if Qara-
suran were not maintained, and if pay and allowances ostensibly for maintain­
ing Qarasuran were not made to certain tribal chiefs, such as Ghunj Ali Khan,
Afshar, who receives about 400 tomans per mensem, it is probable that
robberies of travellers and caravans wouid bo even commoner than they are.
That the postal service should work at all is, considering thd
means employed, something of a
Tbo Port Office.
miracle, hut the miracle is tantalising
and insufficient. On the Yezd-Tehran lino the posts have frequently been
held up for weeks, when they have escaped being robbed. The average time
now-a-days which letters take to come from Tehran is 5 weeks. In 1913 they
used to reach London from Kerman in the same number of weeks, or less.
Prom tho British point of view the Bandar Abbas postal service is
much the most important, and it has reached a degree of inefficiency which
is unparalleled in the past. In November and December incomplete mails
were taking 35 and 40 days to come up from Bandar Abbas to Kerman. The
average time in 1913-14 was 1G days, which was quite unnecessarily slow,
ilis Majesty’s Consul has been agitating the question since November, both
locally and in Tehran, with as yet but slender results. A rapid service by
riding camels which was to carry the post from Bandar Abbas to Daulatabad
in 4-5 days and cost 150 tomans per mensem was promised, but it was no
sooner instituted than it broke down. It is now (in March) being reorganised
by the South Persia Rifles. On the upper section a direct service from
Daulatabad via Baft to Kerman was sanctioned and after much pressure on
the local authorities has bceu realised. Formerly tho post lost several days
by going round by Saidabad (Sirjan) and Bahramabad. A subsidiary service
from Baft now supplies the needs of Sirjan and Bahramabad. These changes
have incurred an increase in the expenditure Budget of GO tomans per
mensem raising it from 75 tomans to 135 tomans.
The actual work of the post office at Bandar Abbas has given rise to
much dissatisfaction. Letters and parcels are often delayed in despatch and
those of one week are sometimes received in Kerman before those of the
preceding one. Postage is also frequently charged on articles already suffi­
ciently stamped. Redress is almost impossible owing to the slowness and
uncertainty of the post itself, and the shortness of life It is absolutely
necessary now that Kerman with its Military and commercial interests should
have a reasonably rapid and reliable postal service, and this will only be
obtained by placing the conveyance of the mails in tho hands of the South
Persia Rifles, when they are ready to undertake it. This is not a case in
^hich we can afford to study the susceptibilities of Persian inefficiency.
Baluchistan has long lain outside the control of the Governor-General of
“ Kerman and Baluchistan,** and in such
BalaobUUn.
relations as existed in recent years Balu­
chistan played the active and the Kerman province the passive part, for Baluoh
raiding parties j early visited Jiruft, Narmashir and Khabis, and sometimes
penetrated as far as Tahrud on the East, and Rawar on the North, of Kerman
city. This year tho Baluch have been provided with entertainment nearer
homo by General Dyer and his troops, with the result that Kerman, has
©njoyed on this side such peace as had beoome a myth of the Golden age.
When General Sykes arrived in Korman our forces were oporating in
the East of Baluchistan. Bahrain Khan of Bampur had not com© within
rango of thoir military operations, but he was alarmed, and began writing
apparently in Juno, to the Sardar Nusrat and Sardar Mujallal expressing fear
that the British intended to annex Baluohistan and professing willingness on