Page 193 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920

FOR THE YEAR 1018. 53
hcoicr 8W*n<^er> an(l are not likely to be more angelic than other
^ uy Persian officials of their class. When the Amir therefore indulged in
l^ifcs against Mr. Locoffro and his agouts and demanded a definition of the
jjeres of tko Qovornor-Qoueral and the Revenue Department, it was only
f)0ssibl° to report by calling on him to adduct concrete facts and to establish
Lm by definite proofs. Fortunately ho was not prepared to take the
accessary trouble, for there is little question, that with the means at his corn­
ed he could havo made out la strong case for himself which, it would not
^ been easy entirely to upset.
havo
Later he began to devote his attention to the possibilities of Baluchistan as
plundering ground where he might pursue undisturbod the Persian hobby of
getting rich quickly, and he pressed His Majesty’s Consul to urge on the authori­
ses the necessity for sanctioning an expedition into Baluchistan in the
2utunin. His Majesty’s. Consul did not believe in the public utility of raiding
expeditions into Bulucliistan, until the Persian Government was prepared
to occupy the country in force and have itself permanently represented in it
by a Governor with an adequate hacking of military force. He told the Ainir
go, and said that at present he was not inclined to recommend more than the
creation of a chain of armed posts along the Kenuau-Baluchistan boundary,
tfhich there was every reason to believe would suffice to restrict the activities
oi the Baluch tribes within the limits of their own country. There they might
be usefully employed iu gradually decimating each other. All tu at was
immediately necessary was to prevent the recurrence of Baluchi invasions of
Kerman territory such a3 those into Tahrud, Khabis, and Narmashir which had
taken place during the year.
Losing faith iu the ability or willingness of the Consulate to play into his
hands, and probably irritated by remonstrances which His Majesty’s Consul had
addressed to him regarding his excesses in Sirjan, the Amir now began to
meditate taking matters into his owu hands. He was further impelled to this
by aunoyance at the delegation of the gendarmerie and at Mr. Leco fire's
refusal to pay from the Kerman Treasury a sum of 10,000 tomans which the
Persian Government had awarded him in satisfaction of old claims in regard
to bis campaign in the west of Persia. In the meanwhile he prepared for all
emergencies by displaying an unwonted degree of pliancy iu his actual dealings
with Mr. Lecofiro. Indeed, towards the end of September, the latter had
spoken of asking His Majesty’s Consul to convey to him a formal acknowledg­
ment of his obliging and helpful attitude.
The dismissal of the Amifi-^fufakham.—Early in October the Amir got
h;s opportunity and took advantage of it. A notice issued by Mr. Lecoffrc
to the effect that it was proposed shortly to introduce the Nawaqil tax (a tax
on all animals and vehicles owned in or entering the town) gave rise to some
talk and formal demonstrations. This could have been easily checked at its
inception by the A mir, but he declared that he could take no measures except
on direct orders from the Persian Government, though the tax was in accord­
ance with a law passed by the National Majlis, and was in force in various
other towns including the capital. Behind the scenes, the Amir gave the
agitators assurances of his support and, at his instance* the agitation against
the Nawaqil was turned into an outcry against the Revenue Department.
Charges were brought forward against the office of the embezzlement of large
*unis, and the right of the opium excise officials forcibly to enter private houses
^as challenged as being contrary to Islamic Law, while the officials themselves
*ere accused of outraging the modesty of women in the course of their visit-
ations. The agitators then proceeded to enforce a strike on the part of. the
leaving community for which the latter had no desire, and the police reoeived
°rders from the Amu to abstain from any action. For more than a week all
w°rk was at a standstill and the oity was in the hands of the mob. Fortu­
nately the Kerman mob is on the whole a very well-behaved one. MoanwhQo
t,le agitators had taken " bastM in large numbers at His Majesty’s Consulate and
ev°ry endeavour was made to force the hand of His Majosty's Consul into taking
Pjfft in the hue aud cry against the “ Nnwatpi ” and the Revenue Department.
Majesty’s Consul however occupied hmself in trying to discourage the
a3‘tatora and to press tho Amur to. taho action, to reatow order. Eventually*