IOR/L/PS/10/197/1

Part 1 consists of correspondence relating to insecurity in southern Persia, particularly around Shiraz and along the Shiraz-Bushire roads. The papers tell of the British response to the situation, covering the following matters:

• the decision of whether to arm Shiraz or to evacuate the city;
• concern over Russia filling the gap left by the British were they to evacuate;
• the situation on the ground, conveyed in several reports;
• the proposal to occupy Bushire with a battalion and to subsidize local chiefs to maintain the roads;
• the Persian Government plan to employ Swedish officers to command and train a gendarmerie along some of the roads;
• British claims for reparation from the Persian Government following an attack on the Shiraz Consul, Mr Smart, and his escort;
• the question of providing winter quarters for Indian troops in Shiraz should they have remain there for the season.

The discussion over such matters is mostly between the Foreign Office, India Office, War Office, Government of India, and Minister at Tehran. Further correspondence, included as enclosures, is from Percy Zachariah Cox, Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.

Included is memorandum on the situation in Southern Persia by J E F, Political Department, India Office, 16 February 1912.