Page 75 - The Persian Gulf Historical Summaries (1907-1953) Vol IV_Neat

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Tho openin«; of roads is indued desirable in
order to feud the trndo of the Gulf; but it has
been forcibly urged that no marked development
of commerce can take place until railway con­
struction has been entered upon, and that a single
lino joining Bunder Abbas or Busliire with the
plateau would be of incalculable service in this
connection, since it would reduce the time of the
journey from the coast to Ispahan from thirty
days to twenty-four hours, and tho cost of trans­
port from 10/. a ton to 1/.
Moreover, it is by no means improbable—the
German Minister for Foreign Affairs alluded to
tho contingency in conversation with Sir E. Grey
— that the promoters of tho Bagdad Railway
may seek to secure an extension across tho
Turkish frontier, and tho situation which now
causes anxiety to His Majesty’s Government in
Mesopotamia may perhaps find a counterpart in
the south of Persia. That such a consummation
would be prejudicial to our interests does not
appear to require demonstration; and a Conces­
sion of this nature should assuredly be fore-
Acquisition of prior rights for stalled by the acquisition of prior rights, to
Railway Construction* which, in virtue of undertakings of the late Shah*
and his predecessor, Ilis Majesty’s Government
are already in some degree entitled.
The most natural route for a railway would
perhaps ho the prolongation of the Khanikin
branch from Bagdad rift, Kermaushah, Sultana-
bad and Ispahan to Yezd, with branches to
Bizful and Mohammcrah and to Kerman and
Bunder Abbas; The provisions of the Anglo-
Russian Convention would occasion some devia­
tion from this line, but the trunk line could be
modified to meet tho exigencies of the political
situation, while a beginning would necessarily
be made with the branches which rest on the
sea.
For the preseut, questions of actual construc­
tion are premature; it is only desirable, in order
to guard against a needless surrender to German
competition, to enter a :aveat at Tehran.
Tho following letter, dated the 25th September,
1907, contains tho views of Sir E. Grey on the
subject of railway construction:—
“ I am directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to
state, for the information of the Secretary o
State; for India, that he has recently had under
consideration the effect which the signature of
• See .Appendix (B), p. 114.