144 PERSIA IN 1903. 



chiefs, with regard to the payment for the new Ahwaz- 

 Ispahan road, were amicably settled, and a " Persian 

 road company," recently formed in London, gave evid- 

 ence of an intention to do something on the Teheran- 

 Kum road, some day to be prolonged to Ispahan and 

 Shushter, the concession for which was taken over from 

 the original holders, the directors of the Imperial Bank. 

 In another direction the road question was being taken 

 up by concessionaires from the north, and Russian 

 engineers appeared at Tabriz, in connection presumably 

 with a road from Julfa to Kazvin. Road concessions 

 here include ways from Kazvin as their centre to 

 Teheran, Hamadan, and to Julfa on the frontier, the 

 latter having the prospect of developing at some future 

 time into a railway. In this connection it may be pointed 

 out that a branch line from the Batum-Tiflis-Baku 

 Railway already runs to Erivan, within three days' 

 march of the frontier ; and it will be interesting to see, 

 when 1905 comes round, whether the clause in the 

 Russo-Persian Railway agreement, giving the option of 

 a further five years' extension, will be taken advantage 

 of. Be that as it may, there can be little doubt that 

 sooner or later the direct road to Persia will run via 

 Julfa and Tabriz. 



In the capital itself the Chancellor of an exhausted 

 exchequer was trembling at the prospect of having to 

 find the wherewithal for a proposed royal procession 

 to Meshed, with a possible repetition of the European 

 expedition looming like a nightmare in the distance ! 

 while the chances of his being able to maintain a hold 

 upon his precarious grasp of office afforded a daily — 

 almost hourly — subject of discussion. The journey to 

 Meshed has so far been staved off", nor does there ap- 

 pear to be any immediate prospect of a return of the 



