Page 539 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

21
FOR THE YBA.R 1917.
Person Government’s request, of the four Kermani enemy agents who fled to
Sliirax in tho summer of 1916 aud wero arrested there was considered a great
triumph for the Democrato.
The invasion of tho public offices by Doinocrats was latterly moat marked,
trig Majesty’s Consul prevented tho nomination of the Democrat leador,
Uuin-U8h-Shariya to tho post of Rais-i-Adliya, in August, but the Mum
fterwnrds obtained a subordinate post in the same department. Practically
•11 the clerks in the Revenue office are now Democrats. The most striking
Democratic success of all was theappointmeat, under protest from His Majesty’s
Vice-Consul, of Agha Yahya, formerly Democrat member of the Majlis for
german, to the headship of the Education Department. This gentleman
solemnly promised His Majesty’s Minister, before leaving Tehran, not to mix
la Kerman politics : this promise he proceeded to break almost immediately on
arrival.
Generally speaking, the Domoorat party, not only in Kerman but in other
towns of the province, notably Rafsinjan, gained considerably both in numbers
and confidence during the latter half of the year. There is little, however,
to fear from any active expression of their hostility so long as the South
Persia Rifles remain, as it is at present, uninfluenced by Democratic pro­
paganda. The most they can do, and are doing, is to increase the difficulties
of His Majesty’s Consul by undermining the goodwill of the officials and
others with whom he has to deal, and by influencing the Persian Government
to hamper his efforts on behalf of British interests.
Following on an exceptionally dry season in 1910, little or no rain fell
until the very end. of tiie year, and only
Condition of Country.
a fraction of tb6 usual amount of snow
covered the hills in the spring. Locusts ravaged the high-lying cultivated
lands of the Aqta Afshar and Siijan during the winter and spring, but thanks
partly to the destruction by the local authorities of a large quantity of eggs and
partly to the ever-increasing drought, the pest was stamped out. Owing to
these causes, however, the summer crop was at least 50 per cent, below the
average. In June the price of wheat at Kerman had risen from 12 to 19-20
Tomans a Kharwar (650 lbs.) and of barley from & to 12-13 Tomans ; by
December the shortage was marked, tho nominal price of wheat as fixed by
the local authorities being 22 Tomans per Kliarwar while in reality it was
difficult to obtain at Tomans 2S or 29. Owing to the weakness of the local
government little was done to prevent hoarding, or to secure for Kerman a share
of the stocks which undoubtedly existed in the Rafsinjan and Bam districts.
Measures were indeed taken, the theory being that of the 30 Khar wars re­
quired by the city per diem, the local government supplied the bakers with
20 from its own ambare. In practice, however, bread was often unobtainable at
most bakers’ shops, and the unsettled condition of popular feeling during the
latter part of the year was partly due to this. Only the remarkable timor­
ousness and lack of spirit of the average Kermani prevented bread riots : for
though the price of bread did not reach the heights it attained elsewhere, the
margin of subsistence is also much lower at Kerman than at Shiraz,
Ispahan, Tehran, etc.? and the people are generally much poorer.
At Bam the price of wheat rose from 7 to 16 Tomans, thongh in the
autumn the Kerman Government fixed it at 12 Tomans ; this rise, as has
appeared since, was mainly due to hoarding.
The fodder shortage resulting from the drought was even more serious,
owing to its effect upon the cost of .transport. Towards the end of the year
very few camels were being used upon the roads, while the cost per Kharwar
°f freight by donkey rose enormously owing to the fact that caravans on most
wads had to carry all their own barley for the whole journey. On the TUnHay
Abbas road freight rose from 2a Tomans to 60 and .even 80 Tomans per Kharwar
during the 2nd half of the year, and owing to South Persia Rifles competition
R was extremely difficult to procure even at those figures. The price of gram
a&a firewood in Kerman and to a greater degree still the prices of all imported
commodities were affected by these conditions. Loaf sugar rose from & or 9 to
lo and even 20 Krana a Tabriz! man (=Rs. 1-4—1-10 per lb. according to