1. 'Duzdap to Meshed via Shusp, Birjand, Kain, Jumin and Turbat-i-Haidari'

Description:

Abstract: The file consists of a publication concerning the route between Duzdap [Zāhedān] and Meshed [Mashhad] via Shusp [Shūsef], Birjand, Kain, Jumin, and Turbat-i-Haidari [Torbat-e Ḩeydarīyeh]. Produced by the General Staff, India, and published in Simla by the Government Monotype Press, 1919. Marked for official use only.Divided into stages it describes both the camel road and motor road in terms of distance, terrain, and settlements. Comments are included on opportunities for water, fuel, fodder, grazing, camping grounds and supplies. The East Persian Force is noted as the authority for this information.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 13; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

2. Ext 980/44 'Persia: Road Transport Administration'

Description:

Abstract: The file contains papers regarding the former Road Transport Department of the Persian Government and the transferral of its responsibilities to two newly formed bodies, the Movements Department and the Road Transport Authority. The primary correspondent is Sir Reader William Bullard, British Legation, Tehran.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 11; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.

3. Ext 5000/41(12) 'Civil Supplies to Persia. (Supply of transport by U.K.C.C.)'

Description:

Abstract: This file is comprised of correspondence between HM Ambassador to Iraq, HM Ambassador to Iran, Minister of State Resident in the Middle East, Cairo, Persia and Iraq Command, and the Government of India, Home Department in which they discuss and negotiate a proposal to build up a civil oil reserve in East Persia and the transport requisites for doing so. Among the discussed considerations are:The current state of government controlled roads in Persia.Former disorder caused by oil and grain famine in Tehran and consequent anti-British sentiment.Road improvements, especially for Shahrud-Meshed Road.Ramifications of diverting United Kingdom Commercial Corporation aid from Russia to support the east Persian oil reserve.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 27; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.

4. Coll 28/56 ‘Persia. Perso-Turkish & Perso-Russian Frontier Affairs. Rowanduz Trade Route.’

Description:

Abstract: Correspondence and other papers concerning the development of trade routes in northeast Persia [Iran], on the Iraq border, with particular focus on routes through Rowanduz (also spelt Rawanduz [Ruwāndiz]) and in Azerbaijan. HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tehran, Percy Loraine, and the (Acting) High Commissioner in Iraq, Bernard Henry Bourdillon, discuss the Persian Government’s desire to facilitate exports in its northern and eastern provinces, in response to Russia's embargo on all goods except cotton from Persia. The correspondence also concerns British-administered Iraq’s desire to encourage greater trade between Iraq and Persia. The file includes: a memorandum dated 2 November 1926 on Persian exports and inland transport, written by the Acting Secretary in Charge of Commercial Affairs at the British Legation in Tehran, Eric Ralph Lingeman (ff 43-46); a report dated 29 June 1931 on the Rawanduz road and other main roads in Azerbaijan, written by the British Consul at Tabriz, Clarence Edward Stanhope Palmer (ff 19-39); a memorandum dated 30 March 1932 on the Rowanduz Rayat road, written by the Director of the Iraq State Railways, Joseph Ramsay Tainsh (ff 10-15).The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 76; these numbers are written in pencil and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.

5. Coll 17/7(1) 'Iraq and Palestine: agreement for transit through Palestine of goods to and from Iraq; Baghdad-Haifa railway'

Description:

Abstract: The volume contains correspondence, reports and minutes regarding road and rail transport through Iraq, Trans-Jordan [Jordan], Palestine, Syria and Iran. The following topics are discussed in detail:The proposed construction of a Baghdad-Haifa rail route. The file also includes records regarding the planned transfer of the Iraqi Government Railway from British to Iraqi control.Transport developments and trade routes in Syria, and economic competition between French- and British- mandated territories in the region.Proposals for the development of free zones at the port in Haifa, for Iraqi and Persian [Iranian] goods. This includes discussion of customs dues, and facilities to be offered to foreign governments.Proposals by Haim Effendi Nathaniel, the Iraqi Railways Canvassing Agent, for facilities to assist in the development of a trans-desert motor route between Iraq and Palestine, and the right to carry Iraqi mails via the Amman ['Ammān] route.Customs and Trade Agreements between French-mandated territories and Iran.The principal authors and correspondents are: HM High Commissioner for Palestine; HM High Commissioner for Iraq; the Foreign Office Eastern Department; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; HM Minister at Tehran; and the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East. The volume also contains a small number of communications received from the Government of Iraq.The volume contains the following items of note:Minutes of a meeting between the Iraqi Treasurer and Haim Effendi Nathaniel, regarding the Baghdad-Haifa Desert Motor Route, held on the 18 January 1933, ff 425-428.Records of a meeting between the Treasurer, the Iraqi Delegation, and the Director of Customs at Palestine, regarding the proposed free zone facilities at Haifa for Iraqi goods, and the establishment of terminal facilities and a preferential tariff, ff 371-392.Draft minutes of a meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, held Monday 17 July 1933, regarding: 1) the proposed pipeline from the British Oil Development Company's concession near Mosul to the Mediterranean, and 2) the Trans-Desert Railway from Baghdad to Haifa. Plus related despatches received from Baghdad, Aleppo and Beirut, notes on the strategic value of the Baghdad-Haifa railway by the Secretaries of State for Air and War, ff 326-357.Communication from the High Commissioner for Iraq (Francis Henry Humphrys) to the Foreign Secretary (John Simon), summarising the development of road and rail transport routes between Iraq, Syria and Palestine from 1925-1934, ff 247-249.English translation of the Decree of the French High Commissioner in Syria, 'Governing the Regime of Customs Exemptions granted to Transdesert Transport Concerns maintaining regular services of the transport of international transport goods', ff 222-236.Minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, held 11 and 23 October 1934, regarding the proposed Baghdad-Haifa route, ff 139-177, 90-107, and 70-89.Memorandum on the Baghdad-Damascus desert route, prepared by the Commercial Secretary to the Baghdad Embassy, 1935, ff 5-10.The volume also contains a proposal by the Palestine Corporation Limited to construct a highway connecting Palestine and Iraq, found at folios 14-30. This proposal is discussed in depth in the second part of the file, IOR/L/PS/12/2852.The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 1).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 526; these numbers are written in pencil, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and ending flyleaves. A previous foliation sequence has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

6. Coll 17/7(2) 'Iraq and Palestine: agreement for transit through Palestine of goods to and from Iraq; Baghdad-Haifa railway'

Description:

Abstract: This file is a continuation of IOR/L/PS/12/2851, and concerns the decision not to proceed with the proposed Haifa-Baghdad railway, but to focus on the improvement of road communications.The file consists of reports on the proposals submitted by the Palestine Corporation Limited (see IOR/L/PS/12/2851 ff 14-30), and alternative proposals and surveys submitted by the War Office, the Air Ministry, and the Director of Public Works for Trans-Jordan. The reports were submitted as evidence to the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, and appear in the file alongside the Committee minutes, as follows:Record of a meeting held at the Colonial Office on 15 February 1935, to consider the improvement of road communication between Haifa and Baghdad, ff 126-133.Report of the War Office on the military requirements for the road, ff 142-147.Report on the Mafraq Road submitted by T T Taylor, Engineer in Charge, Nazareth, ff 154-156.'Preliminary Report on the Section of Haifa Bagdad Road in Transjordan', by Mr Ghorayeb, Director of Public Works, Trans-Jordan, ff 157-213.Minutes of the Forty-seventh Meeting of the Sub-Committee held at 2 July 1936, regarding the Baghdad-Haifa Road, ff 114-121.Records submitted for the Forty-eight Meeting of the Sub-Committee, comprising Air Ministry Proposals and Estimated Costs, copies of despatches between the Colonial Office and the High Commissioner for Palestine, and a War Office Report and Estimated Cost prepared by Major R Briggs, ff 22-109.Note by the Secretary of the Sub-Committee, providing a summary of the proposed Haifa-Baghdad road scheme, ff 3-21.Folio 21 is a 'General Map of Pipe Line Routes & Environs', and was to be appended to the War Office Report.The file also contains correspondence regarding the proposals, between the High Commissioner for Palestine and Trans-Jordan, the War Office, and the Crown Agents for the Colonies.The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 2).Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 247; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-247; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.