Page 201 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920

POB THE TEAR 1913. 6 9
jd no to tlio officer in command, and any improvement in the situation
*° id end with his withdrawal or at any rate with his departure from Kerman,
it may ho taken for granted, would soon follow Ills triumphant return
J5 his spoils and booty.
fflio affairs of tho city are necessarily predicated to a largo extent by the
personality and acts of tho Governor, and
Affairs of Korman City. so far as this is tho case, they have al­
ready been dealt with. They can usually
u referred to the basis of protest against authority, iu one form or another,
tether the person of the Governor, or the enforcement of taxes or restric-
Jqjj. In a commercial community there is also the authority and rights of
the employ1ers to bo rcckoaed with, hut questions arising in regard to these
be better dealt with under the heading “ Commercial.”
Xs a class the religious leaders in Kerman would compare favourably -with
those in many other towns of Persia, and their influence is not veiy dominant
There are, however, individuals whose mischief-making is only limited by
their powers and opportunities. Of these, Haji Mirza Ali Muhammad Mujtahid
jjono. When His Majesty’s Consul arrived in January, ho found the man at
lojcrerkeads with the Amir-i-Mufakham. It is tolerably certain that he had
wrongly appropriated a piece of land belonging to others, and when the Amir,
jfter prolonged expostulation, proceeded to puli down a wall which he was
building round it he was probably acting strictly in accordance with justice.
But justice in Persia has frequently to bo tempered -with diplomacy. Ali
Huhiimmad obtained on some pretext the protection of the Russian Consulate
and was given the protection of Russian Cossacks and the Russian flag. Tho
Amir-i-Mufakham found himself up against a stone wall and appealed for help
to His Majesty’s Consul. The latter refused to discuss the merits of the case hut,
after some correspondence and discussion, secured the withdrawal of the Russian
protection for which there was not even a pretext. At or before this point,
however, the Amir left on his expedition and the question was never finally
settled. This did not impede Ali Muhammad from intriguing against the Amir
and his Deputy Governor and harassing, by means of a band of his roughs,
those who had taken part against him, including the Imam Juma.
Later, Ali Muhammad founded a society called the Haiyat-i-Ihni, whose
object it was to assume to itself judicial powers in regard to disputes between
the townspeople. He is also on the black list of the Revenue Office,, and with a
new to injuring it ho has been agitating in the name of the Haiyat-Ilmi in
avour of tho Governorship of the Sirdar Mulitasham with his Bakhtiari force.
He is believed to have been one of the instigators of the disturbances in the town
a October.
When the Amir started out for the districts he left his Deputy Governor,
Huwaffaq-ud-Dowleh, to act in his place. This gentleman, a Tehrani, was
pleasant enough hut hard up and consequently corrupt. He was also weak for
he lacked both force of character and the assurance of the Amir’s confidence and
^pport. Eventually he fell out with the Amir and suddenly took his departure
a the end of June.
In the meantime a certain Itimad-ul-Mulk had started from Tehran to
his place. This man, who has Russian sympathies and a bad record, was
•Ejected to by His Majesty’s Legation, and the appointment was revoked. He
Regarded, however, all orders to stop at Yezd or return to Tehran and, despite
protests, forced his way on to Rafsinjan. Here, it is believed, the Ami>i-
Hufakham bought him off, and he returned to Yezd. Various individuals were
proposed for tho post, but eventually the Amir Hishmat was appointed on
^suggestion of His Majesty’s Consulate. His record at Bam was good and,
faring his short tenure of office in Kerman, September and Ootober, he gave
^faction to all classes. He is a man who might make a good Governor under
^ new conditions which are being introduced in Southern Persia.
. In April, rules woro suddenly published by the local authorities regulating
^ conditions of tho carpet-weaving business. Thoy woro largely of a hygenio-
*nitary character and, as involving immediate large structural alterations in
I i