Page 502 - PERSIAN 2B 1883_1890_Neat

34 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OP THE PERSIAN GULF POLITICAL

" Thoro are about 10 naturalised British lubjocta living bore, Parsoes and Mussulman*, and it ia through
their hands that almost all of tbo trado of this placo with Bombay through
British satyscle. Bander Abbas passes.
" Those morohants, owing to their unprotected state and the consequent insecurity of their Urea and proper-
ty, are afraid to invest more than one*quartcr of their fortunes in trad*.
" The condition of tho Partoe merchants, through whom at least half the trado passes, Is still woreo: they are
quite unprotected, and tboir lives aro often endangored, and sometimes even sacrificed, owing to tho porsooution
whioh they experience at the hands of the Mussulmans here.
*' If protection wero afforded to these merchants, either by the establishment of a Nativo Agent to look after
_ . , n-i.i k tboir safety and the interests of trade, or by theso merchants being taken
courtfemon o . undor the protection of one of the British Agents in Persia, tho effect on
British trade woald bo astonishing.
"These merchants would lay out nearly four times tho amount which they do now in trado. Tho Partoes of
Yezd wonld form companies and firms, establish factories and banking
Its fatui*. corporations, and import and export goods of English manufacture for
local, as well aa foreign, consumption to a vastly larger oxtent than they do now.
"At present English trade is decidedly at a disadvantage here when compared with that of Russia, whose
Armenian subjects, whether naturalised or native, cany on extensive
English trade u compared with Bowls*. business in perfect safety and security owing to the protection afforded
by that Government to all its subject*."
The pearl fisheries in the Persian Gulf were more produc­
Pearl fishery.
tive than during tho previous year.
Bushier, E. C. ROSS, Colonel,
The 15th April 1833. Political Resident in the Persian Gulf,