Page 56 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920

46 PERSIAN GULP ADMINISTRATION REPORT
to be unable to take any active steps against them His Majesty’s (W,
askod for tho presence of a Man-of-War. H. M. 8. Alert ** ^ .
“ Pcrssufl ** arrived on the following day and anchored m front of the Co*
sulato. Tho main body of the raiders was at a place called Issin, about ten my.
north of Bandar Abbas and a body of about 160 men continued to be visit},
on the ridge two miles north of the Consulate. On tho evening of the X5a
May a body of about 100 sowars appeared in the hamlet of Naiband two miL
east of the centre of tho town, and the chief source of water supply. Moved at
length to action by tho fear of having the water supply cut off, tho Dep^K
Governor took active steps against tho raiders and, at about 11 a.m. on t^
16th, a force of 160 tufangchis supported by a gun of ancient model advanced
on Naiband: a battle ensued in which some five or six were killed on each
side, but one cf the leaders of the raiders, a brother of Husein Kalleh Khan,
was mortally wounded and this turned the scale and after about one and a half
hour’s fighting they withdrew. The local tufangchis were reported by this ti_
me
to have exhausted all their ammunition, and as it seemed not unlikely that the
raiders might attempt to take their revenge to which the local forces coulj
have offered no resistance, it was ultimately decided to land a force from His
Majesty’s ships for the defence of the life and property of British subjects. Tfe
landing operations commenced at 4-30 P m., but unfortunately it was blowing
hard at the time and considerable difficulty was experienced in bringing the heavy
laden boats through the surf. One boat was swamped and two men were drowneJ,
and it was not till about 7-30 p.m. that the force of 110 men were aH
ashore. The raiders appear to have remained at Issin the following day but,
on the 18th May, news was received that they had. left for the interior and the
troops were re-embarked. On the approach of the raiders the majority of
merchants fearing danger to their families and property had left the Consulate
and re-opened the bazaar. The Misbah-i-Diwan however remained in ** bast"
Finally, on 6th June, the Political Resident arrived in the R. I. M.
S. “ Investigator ” from Maskat and, on the 8th June, His Excellency the
Muwaggar-ed-Dowleh arrived from Bnshire in the “ Mozafferi.” His Ex­
cellency declined to reinstate the Misbah-i-Diwan at Bar.dar Abbas, but after
considerable pressure agreed to appoint him as Deputy Governor of some place
within his jurisdiction within a period of two months. These terms were
accepted and the Misbah-i-Diwan proceeded to Karachi to await his
appointment. It was not until he had been reminded by the Political Resident
that the LIuwaggar-ed-Dowleh proceeded to fulfil his undertaking, hut at
length, at the beginning of September, orders were issued to the Misbah
appointing him Deputy Governor of Lingah and directing him to proceed to
Bushire to receive instructions prior to assuming charge of the post. He
displayed considerable reluctance at the idea of proceeding to Bushire, but
finally promised Captain Biscoe, who was then at Karachi and on the eve d
returning to Bandar Abbas, that he would do so and would leave by the
following mail. Apparently, however, after Gaptaia Biscoe's departure, his
courage failed him, and be was subsequently heard of at Calcutta^ having
definitely refused to go to Bushire.
In July Monsieur Zwinne was transferred to Bushire and succeeded bf
Monsieur Collette, who held charge till 1st December when Monsieur Zwinoc
returned. The change was regretted as Monsieur Collette proved himself a*
eminently obliging and reasonable official during his tenure of the post
At the beginning of the year the routes from Bandar Abbas to Kermafl
were extremely insecure, and but li&k
Condition of country.
merchandise was sent up to the interior:
trade was stagnant at Kerman and the Hindu firms would not take the risks
which they would probably have taken had a brisker market been awaiti®?
their goods at their destination. Por this reason a much smaller amount w
goods were robbed than in previous years. An account of the raid whic®
occurred in May has been already given. After that the condition of the
routes improved and several caravans left in July and August. At the
end of August however a body of horsemen, whose numbers are various**
estimated at 60 to 100, entered the district from Ears and pillaged severt*
villages. They approached within l\ miles of the town, and entered the
quarantine station at Naiband where some Pareee British subjects happened *o