Page 246 - UAE Truncal States

Social Aspects of Traditional Economy
acted as though this request included the purchase of pearls from the
Gulf, but in the event arrangements were made to allow free import of
pearls into India from the Gulf, including parts which did not lie
within the sterling area.50 Immediately after independence in 1947
the Indian Government decided to allow only limited imports of
uncut diamonds and unpolished pearls “for the specific purpose of
being cut, polished or finished in India and subsequently re-exported
without delay".57 The Ruler of Bahrain and other Gulf Rulers
appealed to the Political Resident, who had moved from Bushire to
Bahrain, and to other British officials to try to influence the Indian
Government to remove these restrictions. But since the overall policy
of the British Government was to press the ex-colony to bring her
imports and exports into balance these officials were not in a very
strong position.

Search for alternative markets for pearls
In this depressed situation attempts were made by institutions such
as the British Board of Trade to help open up alternative markets for
Gulf pearls and in particular to interest American jewellers in buying
more natural pearls again. These attempts failed on two accounts,
firstly because the market was dominated by importers in New York
who had mostly turned to cultured pearls; secondly, the obstacle to a
proposed transfer of the processing and distribution end of the
pearling industry, which had been built up over centuries in India, to
either the Gulf or to New York was that the Indian workmanship was
very good, labour costs were low, and the Indian merchants who
imported the pearls into Bombay had all aspects of the trade well
organised. The pearls were drilled, bleached and sorted into various
qualities, sizes and colours for world distribution. Since the bulk of
the pearls from the Gulf were very small, 0.80 to 2.50 grains, the cost
of establishing a similarly well-functioning centre for the trade in
Gulf pearls outside India even with Indian specialists would
probably not have been commercial. For many decades India itself
had absorbed only 20 per cent of the value of the annual pearl trade
of Bombay; most of the higher quality pearls had been exported to
the USA.
The various enquiries made by British commercial officers in
embassies in the industrialised countries all had the same negative
result;58 the general public in Europe, the USA, Canada and
elsewhere did not appreciate the difference between natural and

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