The fares for the hire of the conveyance are very high:—
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Landau | 11 | 16 | 7 |
| Victoria | 10 | 16 | 7 |
| Coupé | 11 | 4 | 10 |
| Fourgon | 10 | 0 | 10 |
As only 72 lbs. of personal luggage are allowed in the landau or 65 lbs. in other carriages, and this weight must be in small packages, one is compelled to hire a second conveyance, a fourgon, which can carry 650 lbs. Every pound exceeding these weights is charged for at the rate of two shillings for every 13½ lbs. of luggage. The luggage is weighed with great accuracy before starting from Resht, and on arrival in Teheran. Care is taken to exact every half-penny to which the company is entitled on luggage fares, and much inconvenience and delay is caused by the Persian officials at the scales. It is advisable for the traveller to be present when the luggage is weighed, to prevent fraud.
It may be noticed that to travel the 200 miles, the distance from Resht to Teheran, the cost, without counting incidental expenses, tips (amounting to some £3 or more), etc.,
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |||
| Landau, | 11 | 16 | 7 | plus toll, | 1 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 7 | |
| Fourgon, | 10 | 0 | 10 | plus toll, | 1 | 13 | 2 | 11 | 14 | 0 | |
| —————— | |||||||||||
| Total | £24 | 18 | 7 | ||||||||
which is somewhat high for a journey of only 72 to 80 hours.
This strikes one all the more when one compares it with the journey of several thousand miles in the greatest of luxury from London across Holland, Germany, Russia, and the Caspian to Enzeli, which can be covered easily by three five-pound notes.
As every one knows, the road from Piri-Bazaar to Kasvin and Teheran was opened for wheel traffic in January 1899.
I am told that in 1899—before the road was completed—a Persian speculator offered the sum of £200 a day to be paid in cash every evening, for the contract of the tolls. The offer was most emphatically refused, as the daily tolls even at that time amounted to between £270 and £300.
In these last three years the road has developed in a most astounding manner, and the receipts, besides being now considerably greater, are constantly increasing. The Russian shareholders and Government can indeed fairly congratulate themselves on the happy success which their well-thought-out investment has fairly won them.