IOR/L/PS/10/608/1

This part contains correspondence relating to the construction of a telegraph line and road from Bandar Abbas (or Bunder Abbas or Bander Abbas) to Kerman in Persia [Iran].

It includes correspondence between the India Office and the War Office, the Foreign Office, and the Government of India, as well as India Office minutes and reference papers. It also includes: enclosures from the Foreign Office of copy correspondence with the Treasury, and Sir Charles Marling, HM Minister Tehran. The file additionally includes copy correspondence of the Government of India with the following: Brigadier-General Sir Percy Sykes, Inspector-General, South Persia Military Police, Bandar Abbas; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; and HM Consul, Kerman.

It includes correspondence regarding the following subjects:

• the perceived urgent military necessity of a Bandar Abbas to Kerman telegraph line and road to strengthen the British position in South Persia, in view of the establishment of the South Persia Military Police
• the War Office supplying three hundred miles of iron wire for the construction of the telegraph line
• the Secretary of State for India approving the proposal of the Government of India to proceed with the construction of the telegraph line without awaiting the conclusion of an agreement with the Persian Government
• progress reports on the construction of the road and telegraph line from the Foreign Department of the Government of India
• the route via Tang-i-Zagh and Saidabad being selected as the most suitable alignment for the road, and the cost of improving this route
• the question of whether the military advantages of the road will outweigh possible political disadvantages which may arise from its construction
• the proposed transfer of the Bunder Abbas-Kerman telegraph from its present alignment to that of the new ‘motorable’ road via Tang-i-Zagh and Saidabad
• the construction of a temporary telephone line from Bandar Abbas to Tang-i-Zagh