Page 12 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920

2 PERSIAN GULF ADMINISTRATION REPORT
No improvement in the general state of the country hits taken place
during the year under review; on the
General iltufltlon in Portia.
contrary the weakness of the Central
Government in the South, which the events of 1911 had accentuated, has be,
come ohronio, and the appointments of new Governors-General to the variou8
provinces have not availed to stem the tide of disorder.
T7ith the enforced departure of Mr. Shuster from Tehran, the general
Ecoptioiam prevailing amongst intelligent Persians of the possibility of any
improvement in the moral and material condition of the country without
elective foreign intervention, has given place to a settled conviction of the
futility of any efforts made by the Central Government to restore order.
Bursian troops have remained in considerable numbers in Northern Persia, and
on our part, it has not yet been found practicable to effect any reduction in the
numbers of British troops employed as Consular guards in the South, though
His Majesty’s Government are anxious to withdraw them as soon as possible.
No loans were raised by the Persian Government during the year; His
Majesty’s Government, however, accorded advances, totalling £50,000 to be
devoted to the administrative necessities of Pars: local authorities all over the
country declared their inability to carry on the administration, or even- collect
revenue without the assistance of large subventions from the Central Govern­
ment, whoze failure to meet such demand^ was urged in extenuation of the
general incapacity of local authorities to maintain law and order. The fear is
mat the demoralization of the country generally and the decay of the whole
organization of Government have progressed too far to be cured by the most
liberal subventions : and that, failing some unforeceen development, the most
that can he hoped from the grant of financial assistance is that the inevitable
day of reckoning will be postponed for a few years longer, the account becom­
ing meanwhile steadily more formidable, and less within the power of the
country to liquidate. Pinancial assistance, and the measure of control over
local administration involved thereby, once withdrawn, there must always be
the danger that the administration would relapse into chaos, owing to the fact
that tribesmen and peasantry alike are now well armed, and are conscious of
their power, whilst men of sufficient honesty of purpose and capability to take
up the reins when we lay them down, cannot be produced by Persia now, nor
could they be produced in the present generation.
As in the previous year, the position of affairs in Pars generally, and on
Shiraz and Far,. Bushire-Ispahau road,, loomed large on
the political nonzon, and it seems increas­
ingly clear that for some time to come the line of action pursued by His
Majesty’s Government in regard to the problems presented by the roads of
this province will form the touchstone upon which our subsequent policy in
South Persia will be tested and regulated.
The negatively unsatisfactory state in which things remained during the
Kawam’s acting incumbency of the post of Governor-General, gave place, on
the arrival of the Mukhbir-es-Sultaneh, to a brief period of hope tnat some
permanent improvement might result from his appointment. Such hopes were
not fulfilled : it was anticipated by Mr. Smart, when this nomination was first-
mooted, that he would prove rather too civilised for so turbulent a province as
Pars, which only a Governor-General of the old fire eating type could hope to
bring under control, without ample funds, which the Central Government was
in no position to provide^
He had scarcely had time to take stock of the situation and to commence
to formulate his plans, when the murder of Captain Eckford, in December, as
related in detail elsewhere, and his subsequent inability to take any sort of
measures to exact reparation from the responsible tribes, demonstrated his help­
lessness to cope with the ever increasing forces of disorder in the province,
which, with every year of anarchy, are gathering strength and mating the
restoration of order in the future more difficult.
The year has, generally speaking, been one of expectant inactivity : the
Political and eooDomio development* in the Turko-Balkan war necessitated the tem­
Qvll apbere generally. porary postponement of negotiations with
the Porte, which are touched on elsewnere ; the installation of wirel ess