Page 169 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920

FOB THE YEAR 1018. 29
flicsc tribesmen with, the Mamasannis and Muhammad Ali Khan, Kash-
Uuwftir Ahmadu. kuli» fignro in year’s report as the
perpetrators of the “Eckford” outrage,
flio course of the present year, they or at least a portion of the tribe, came
?D. contact with the Residency in a rather curious fashion and the fact seems
^ rtby °* record. The tribe are divided into dwellers in the hot country
Smsiri) and dwellers in the mountains (Sarhadi).
' It is the first division or rather tlicir chiefs who came into contact with
, Residency, while it is the latter to whom the murder of Captain Eckford
A been attributed.
has
On the 14th January, the Resident reported to His Majesty’s Minister
t Tehran that deposits of money, amounting to roughly 16,000 tomans the
prepay of certain Buwair Ahmadi Chiefs were in Bushire, partly with the
Lperial Bank of Persia and partly with the British naval contractor. Nego­
tiations for the withdrawal of these deposits were then in progress. The Resi­
dent invited His Majesty’s Minister to consider, in consultation with
tbe Tehran Bank Manager, the expediency of asking the Persian Government
to request the British authorities at Bushiie to withhold payment of these
deposits, as it was conceivable that the payees were concerned in the murder
of Captain Eckford. The Minister did not, however, consider himself justified
ja taking this step which might be regarded by the Bank’s clients as a breach
of confidence, more especially as it was beginning to be thought at Tehran that
the Kughelu, rather than the Buwair Ahmadi, were responsible for the outrage
of December 11th, 1912.
Uncertainty as to whom actually the money should he paid and quarrels
among the heirs of the original depositor delayed payment of this
money which was still in deposit at the close of 1913.
This Chief does not figure largely in the records of the year. In late
October, Colonel TJggla informed His
Muhammad AH Khan, Kathkuli.
Majesty’s Consul, Shiraz, that he had offer­
ed to vacate Shapur so that it might be restored to its proper owners on the
condition that the surrender is effected in the presence of a gendarmerie force.
How the Shapur valley was evacuated by Muhammad Ali Khan has already
been related in the close cf the article on the “ Gendarmerie ”
One of the results of the Kawain’s expedition of April and May 1913,
Proved ale Of villogoi in it,, ocighw. ™ the confiscation to the state of certain
Wof Morvdasht and Kafrak to eaiufy British villages m the neighbourhood of Mervdasht
and Kafrak. His Majesty’s Consul,
Shiraz, suggested that the sale of these villages would suffice to pay off a
large portion of the British claims for losses suffered in the province of Ears
ffhich amounted to about £20,000, and that the Persian Government should he
moved to authorise this sale for the purpose or at least to earmark the annual
revenue towards the gradual liquidation of the British claims. His Majesty’s
Minister supported this proposal, but Sir E. Grey fouud that there were a
^nety of objections to such a course, for instance, other British claimants
fcight resent the preferential treatment accorded and other powers might be
tempted to urge the Persian Government to send a military expedition for the
settlement of their claims. Sir E. Grey preferred that funds from the sale or
Revenue of the villages should be earmarked for the upkeep of the gendarmerie
111 Bars or for otherwise strengthening the local administration.
A further submission of the views of His Majesty’s Consul was requested
a»d he suggested that the sums recovered should he divided proportionately
^ongst claimants of all nations for losses incurred in Fars. This proposal
j^entually received a rather qualified approval from His Majesty’s Principal
^rotary of State for Foreign Affairs, in November, but no claims were
dually settled before the ena of the year.
■A. special article has been devoted to the “ Constant ” outrage which, after
cv,... # ^ . all, may fairly be taken to have been an
Of Ba.hu. aod tl. n.rroMdio* isolated not of revenge of no special
significance by a dismissed employ^;
Acre follow dealing with the Tangistani operations and Bakhtiari aggressions
Wnsfc the Lirawi tract. For the rest, there is little to remark.