IOR/L/PS/10/892

The volume contains papers relating to Britain’s trade with east Persia [Iran], chiefly comprising reports by Major B Temple, British Vice-Consul, Meshed [Mashhad].

Major Temple’s reports cover various aspects of trade including development possibilities, trade routes, foreign competition (notably Russia), local resources, topography and economic geography, types of transport, road and rail networks, telegraph and postal communications, banking facilities, favoured merchants to trade with, merchant and trade conferences, and the political circumstances in Persia and surrounding countries.

The papers including the following:

• ‘Report of a Commercial Survey of the East Persian Trade Route between Quetta and Meshed’ by Major Temple, dated 1919, first proof (ff 166-197) and final version (ff 34-60), plus letters regarding revisions made by the Department of Overseas Trade and comments by India Office officials, and a proposal for possible confidential circulation of the report to a limited number of selected British firms
• ‘Political and Economic Report on Khorasan for the year 1919’, forwarded by HM Officiating Consul-General and Agent to the Government of India in Khorasan, to HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Tehran, co-authored by the Consul-General (political section) and Major Temple (economic section) (ff 148-159)
• ‘Trade Notes’ by Major Temple, January-February 1920, forwarded by HM Officiating Consul-General and Agent to the Government of India in Khorasan, to HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Tehran (ff 138-146)
• ‘Trade Notes’ by Major Temple, February-April 1920 and June 1920, forwarded by HM Officiating Consul-General and Agent to the Government of India in Khorasan, to the Comptroller-General, Department of Overseas Trade, with related letters and notes concerning the potential establishment of a ‘forwarding agency’ at Meshed (ff 17-32)
• ‘Commercial Survey of East Persia’ by Major Temple, forwarded in December 1919 by HM Officiating Consul-General and Agent to the Government of India in Khorasan to the Director of the Department of Overseas Trade (Development and Intelligence), London (ff 62-135)
• Quarterly Trade Returns for 1920, completed and forwarded by HM Officiating Consul-General and Agent to the Government of India in Khorasan, to the Controller General, Department of Overseas Trade (Development and Intelligence).

Papers comprise: printed reports; India Office Political Department registry dividers including notes by India Office officials on groupings of papers; internal letters and notes by India Office officials; and some letters from the Department of Overseas Trade.

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.