581/378.)
85
The Under £ecretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Comptroller of the Department of Overseas Trade, and is directed by the Secretary of State to transmit to him herewith a copy of
a despatch from His Majesty's Minister at Tehran respecting the recognition by the Persian Government of British subjects of Persian origin, together with copies of correspondence which passed in 1906 respecting the case of Haji Ali Akbar and Sons Limited, in which a
similar question arose.
2.
and
The position of the Nemazi, father and son, of Isfahani and Sons differs materially from that of Reza
de Mehdi Hariri Limited, the third of those to be dealt with in the present instance, in that the two former are firms and the latter a registered company.
3. In considering the advisability of extending British protection to British firms in Persian the question of nationality arises only in so far as the nationality of
The test whether individual members thereof is concerned.
a particuler firm the members of which are British subjects should be protected in Persia would therefore appear to be that of their personal respectability coupled with the consideration as to whether their operations are creditable and advantageous.
4.
Where a company is concerned, on the other hand it was laid down in the case of Haji Ali Akbar and Company, Limited, that protection should only be granted in the event of it being found that the majority of the shares are held
by persons who in English law are British subjects.
This