LIFE TODAY IN ABADAN, PERSIAN GULF OIL CITY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22696, 22 July 1948, Page 4

LIFE TODAY IN ABADAN, PERSIAN GULF OIL CITY

WORLD’S BIGGEST REFINERY

For the staff employed by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, life in Southern Persia, on the fringe of the Persian Gulf, is not very different from that in any other community where all amenities have to be imported, and the susceptibilities of an indigenous and nationally-conscious race have to be taken into account. There is a distinct cleavage between the nationals and the foreigners, and even common employment by the company provides few points of contact.

This is the impression gained by Mr. P. H. Roberts, a New Zealand industrial chemist who recently spent several months in the employ of the AngloIranian concern, and who is now visiting Gisborne. Mr. Roberts did not find working conditions in Abadan, headquarters of the company's refining activities, uncongenial; but the housing situation for married people is no better, there than elsewhere—rather worse in fact, for it developed during his stay that suitable quarters lor his wife and family would not be available for four or five years. Hence his decision to return to New Zealand and exploit other channels of employment. Iranians Want Better Posts Company staff live in accommodation provided by the company, deal largely with company stores, relax in companysubsidised clubs; and for entertainment they subsist largely upon the products of the European colony in the form of amateur dramatic productions. They move in a Persian community without penetrating much below the surface ol the native lile, and for obvious reasons do not partake much of native hospitality or entertainment. Official policy of the Persian Government is exerted in the direction of securing advancement for Persian nationals in the employ of companies operating oil or other concessions, and there are a considerable number ot nationals on the staff of the AngloIranian company, which conducts schools and training courses for their development and now has a proportion of Persians engaged in what may be described as the middle group of its operations. Educated Persians are capable of developing a high degree of technical skill, but they comprise only a small proportion of the population, and the labourer type is generally almost illiterate and without ambition. World’s Largest Oil Refinery There is nevertheless scope for the employment of a large number, since the company operates at Abadan the largest oil-refinery in the world. For clerical work, and also for many industrial processes, however, the company depends largely upon Indian employees who are much more adept naturally and who, in fact, carry a large portion of the factory work on their shoulders. International politics do not make

much impression upon the I’ersians of Abadan, who are far removed by distance and lack of communi-

cation from the areas in which Russian pressure has been- felt in the past two or three years. They remember something; of the presence of Russian troops in their area during the war, when lend-lease supplies from the United States Mowed past their city by way of the Shatt-el-Arab river to an old native port a few miles upriver, whence they began the overland journey for delivery to Russia. But these memories are fading, and the average Abadanian’s pre-occupation with foreign contacts is concen-

tratcd upon the Anglo-Iranian establishment. Distant Courtesy For Westerners

of the hot season the temperature ranges up to 110 degrees daily. In a dry climate, of course, such temperatures are more easily borne than in a humid part of the globe. European employees of the company live largely on imported foodstuffs, and are subject to rationing on the British scale for such items as butter. Prices are high, and in the bazaar they run to nearly double the company store prices. The bazaar is Abadan's version of the black market, and it flourishes to some degree on stocks obtained by various means from those imported by the company. Many Persian employees have cultivated a liking for western foods through company contacts, but the average run of the population is content, as are the Indians with the preparation known as ghee produced by a simple process from the milk of goats, and which is quite unacceptable to the European palate. Building Supplies Must Be Imported In pre-war years the company erected handsome individual houses for its staff employees, and the “brass” lived in luxurious surroundings. The less pretentious dwellings now provided are adequate, but more closely placed, and they have not the extensive gardens and other amenities of the original building types. Almost all buildings are in brick, imported by the company, since Persia is mostly desert and affords no supplies of timber or alternative materials for building purposes. Most native buildings are constructed in an inferior type of brick which, however, appears to meet the needs of the climate and its population.

Communications are not highly developed in the country, although commercial development has produced some utilitarian roads mostly on routes used by European transport. Over large areas of Persia the donkey remains the principal animal of burden, and their needs in the way of tracks and roads are as simple as those of the human porters who are to be seen everywhere, shouldering heavy burdens and carrying them great distances. Habits of Centuries Change Slowly In essence, southern Persia differs little from any other country in which intensive industrial effort has been superimposed by Western people upon a background of comparatively simple and indolent native life. It presents the same contrasts of intensely modern plant and other products of western culture with the conservative habits of a' people accustomed for centuries to follow the habits of their fathers in dress, diet and general mode of living. Climatically, it is regarded as unsuitable for adolescent or near-adolescent children, and schools conducted by the Anglo-Iranian company do not cater for European children above the age of eight years. Parents therefore eventually face the choice of parting with their children to custodians in less extreme climates, or of leaving the scene of their employment. It is a choice long faced by Europeans, in many other countries, but one which grows no easier by its constant repetition.

Nationalist feeling is not particularly obvious, although the outlanders are always conscious of a degree of distant courtesy among the educated Persians. On occasions of excitement, such as are common to sports contests in all countries, there is a distinct bias against a foreign-element team. Association football is one of the adopted enthusiasms of the Persians, and they have some fair teams in Abadan. Occasionally there are matches between company teams and those composed entirely of Persians. A winning team of foreigners is likely to be lightly stoned, and subject to verbal abuse by local enthusiasts. These hazards are accepted as part of the white man's burden, none too light in a climate where even at the beginning