Page 571 - PERSIAN 8 1931_1940_Neat

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Tho district of Bam was soparatod from Korman and made an indepen­
dent Farmnndari, but up to tho close of the year the central government
departments {e.g. Financo, Polico, otc.) romained subordinate to their
respective departmental heads at Korman. Aqai Ismail Bahadur was
appointed Governor of tho now Farmandari. He had been Governor of
Bandar Abbas for tho provious fivo years.
Tho relations of this Consulate with tho Governorates were very cordial
throughout tho yoar.
Finance and Revenue.—Aqai Ganjihi was in charge of this department
throughout the yoar. Ho is an energetic tax-gatherer and his zeal has been
praised by the central authorities ; the local inhabitants are not so en­
thusiastic. An innovation was tho despatch to the villages of income tax
assessors. Now taxes applied during tho year are the Inheritance Tax
and a Tree Tax. It is reported that the rovenue value of tho Kerman dist­
rict per head of population stands second only to Tehran.
The Auqaf Department has been transferred to the Financo Department
from the Education Department.
Bank-i-Milli.—Aqai Avansian Alexander retained the managership up
to the end of tho yoar. Little business was done, especially as regards foreign
exchange. The percentage of foreign exchange allowed to exporters was
available to buyers by private sale at prices up to rials 140 to the £ ; the Gov­
ernment rate being 80.
Justice.—Aqai Ghayasi, the Chief Judge of the Appellate Court, was in
control of the Judicial department.
No important case involving a British subject came before the courts
during 1938.
Police.—Major Yusuf Bahrami succeeded Colonel Ali Qanei in June as
Chief of Police. He is a popular officer and has the reputation of not ac­
cepting bribes.
Posts and Telegraphs.—So far as this Consulate is concerned the services
of this department were satisfactory. No covers addressed to this Con­
sulate appeared to have been tampered with and newspaper wrappers very
seldom. The same cannot be said, however, of mail matter addressed to
others. Towards the end of the year European mails were taking 7-14
days longer in transit than normal.
Educaticn.—Aqai Mail Tuwaskani, the local Director of Education, has
not a very high reputation as an educationalist and his removal would not
be reg'etted, especially by tho Principals of the C. M. S. schools. The
desire for education is steadily growing among the youth of the country, but
few qualified teachers are available in this province.
Municipality.—Progress in municipal administration is distressingly
slow. In its efforts to impress the activities of the local Committee are con­
fined mai.ily to the appearance of two or three principal avenues. This is
indeed something, but the condition of the byways leaves much to be de­
sired. Nothing has been done to provide a system of surface water drainage,
and no steps have been taken to improve the drinking water supply.
There was an acute shortage of bread during the winter of 1937-38 and
prices soared accordingly. Some relief was effected by importing grain from
Kermanshah and Zahidan.
Health.—-There was a mild outbreak of typhoid in Rafsinjan ; other­
wise there were no epidemics in this area during 1938.
Agriculture.—There wore satisfactory rains in 1938 and good crops
resulted. Nevertheless the agriculturist is not very satisfied with the
present system by which he is required to sell most of his grain to the
Maliyeh Department at prices lower than the bazar rates. Cotton growers
wore severely hit when their crops were burnt owing to alleged infection of
* red worm ’. Poppy cultivation has also been drastically curtailed in
this area. This was the most profitable crop of all.