Page 608 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

28 ANNUAL RETORT OF TIIK PERSIAN GULF POLITICAL RESIDENCY

there was a certain amount of raiding in ilw spring, one particularly darinr?
raid being effected by Cbnhhaqis and Paiq^lebis early in March between
Mashizand Khunsurkh on the lterman-Saidabad section. Suutb Persia Itifl0s
cavalry from Kerman under Major Fowle, I.A., performed a remarkable
march in pursuit, reaching Cliah Baq itself and covering -.ISO miles in 1QV
days, but without success. Tho capture and execution at Saidabad in April
of tho notorious Muhammad Ismail Peg Nazarbeglu (Bahnrlu) had a good
moral effect. Abovo nil, the inarch of the Shiraz Poinforcemeut echelons
from the const to Shiraz by the Tarum-Saidabad and Tnrum-Qatru routes in
April and May, and tho successful operations carried out by them and by the
Kiriz garrison against Kuhistan tribes in May, kept the latter quiet till the
autumn whon two or three raids were carried out on the Tarum-Saidabad
8ection. The most successful of these was one by a band of GO Nazarbeglus
who attacked a South Persia Rifles convoy of 70 unloaded camels at Puzeh
Khun at Dight, panicked the escort of GO South Peisia Rifles and carried off
all the aniinalB except seven.
At tho end of July the 70 horse and 30 foot levies at Baft, who had been
maintained since 191P by the South
Pml&tabad-B&ft road
Persia Rifles under their direct control,
were disbanded, the organization of the Saidabad routo having rendered their
upkeep an unnecessary expense. Gunj Ali Khan Ilkhani of the Afshar, and in
succession to him Hojabr-us-SuItaneh were from thenceforward subsidised for
the upkeep cf 10 horse and 20 foot road-guards on tho Balt-Daulatabad and
Baft-Scidabad roads. This arrangement appears to have worked satisfactorily
up to the present.
The comparative safety of the Bandar Abbas-Kerman routes was un­
fortunately of little use to the Kerman public, owiog to the fact that the Ease
authorities were obliged to impress for military purpoces nearly all the trans­
port- animals arriving at Bandar Abbas from the middle of March practically
to the end of the year. Transport owners have never liked military employ­
ment. on the Tamm-Saidabad road, partly because the escorts interfere with
their independence and make them travel much faster than they are accustomed
to, partly because the route is a bad one for grazing and supplies. They
accordingly scon learnt to avoid Bandar Abbas, and by the autumD it was
almost impossible for merchants to get their goods up from Bandar Abbas at
all, even at the excessive rate of tomans 100 per 100 Tabrizi mans (roughly
Rs. 250 per camel-load). By the beginning of October some 40,000 camel
loads of' goods, involving a capital of nearly Rs. li crorcs, were lying at
Bandar Abbas ; prices soared in Kerman, Yezd and other up-countiy centres,
and more than one impoiting firm was threatened with bankruptcy. Further
the demand for rupee drafts in India ceased, with the result that the Bank
was unable to collect krans for the supplying of the South Persia Rifles* heavy
requirements. This serious commercial and financial deadlock, which was the
subject of correspondence between His Majesty’s Consul, His Majesty’s
Legation and the General Staff, Shiraz, has been gradually relieved daring
the last few weeks (February lltJh.). by the partial release of transport by the
military authorities at Bandar Abbas, and by the diversion of trade to the
Bushire-Shiraz and Basrah-Bagbdad-Kermanshalr routes. It is difficult to sec
how a breakdown could have been avoided, for with the total available
transport in the country greatly reduced by the drought of 1916-17, the
Bandar Abbas-Saidabad road coula not be expected to bear the strain of acting
at one and the same time as the sole Line of Communications for the forces
in Fara and Kerman provinces, and also as the only channel of trade for
the whole of Southern Persia.
In January the Chabarrahis, Lashanis, Tutakis, Sarchahanis and other
Yeid ro*d. bands resumed their activities on the Ye#*
road, which had been unmolested since Sep­
tember 1917, when a South Persia Rifles column marched through their country
The detachment of South Persian Rifles Cavalry stationed at Anar was una.b/g
to ccpe with tho bands, which often numbered as many as 200, though to
British Non-Commissioned Officer in command displayed great activity
recovered much of the loot on more thalfone occasion. The following eqod