.The Times of Friday published an account taken from the
Pioneer of the work of the Seistan Boundary Commission, witica has just returned to India after two and a half years spent on the eastern border of Persia. Persia, it will be remembered, had a dispute with Afghanistan over the water 'supply of the Helmand, and the matter was referred to the friendly offices of the British Government. A Commission, under Colonel MacMahon, left Quetta in the beginning of 1903, and, in addition to investigating water rights, dealt with the preliminary question of the true Persian boundary line. The Afghan officials lent every assistance, and the relations with them throughout were of the most cordial kind ; but the Persians proved shifty and obstructive, being influenced, it is alleged, by Russian intrigues. In September, 1904, Colonel MacMahon's demarcation of the frontier was accepted by both sides, and the award as to the water supply followed in April last. The whole affair seems, thanks to the patience and tact of the Commissioner, to have been a brilliant success ; the Seistanis and Afghans are now in perfect accord; and British influence has been consolidated in Eastern Persia.
Previous page
