Page 544 - PERSIAN 1 1873_1879 Admin Report1_Neat

28 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OP TUB PERSIAN OULF POLITICAL

6. When the Persian opium trade was in its infancy, the drug was
sent in sailing vessels to Java and thence ro-shipped in steamers for
Singapore and Hongkong.
The Dutch Government, however, having imposed certain restrictions
at Java, Aden was subsequently selected as a port of transhipment, and
later Suez, at which port no duty is levied for transhipment.
7. The Persian Steam Navigation Company now send occasional
steamers from the Gulf to Galle for conveyance of opium, when a suffi.
cient quantity is collected to remunerate by freight.
8. Poppy seed having risen in price in Europe, a considerable quantity
was in 1878 shipped hence to England for the first time.
9. A considerable trade in mother o'pearl shells has of late sprung
up between the Gulf and England. The
Mother o'pearl.
shells are mostly shipped from Lingah to
London, and there is said to be a good, though decreasing, demand for
them on the continent.
10. Cotton of good quality is grown in Persia, and an increasing
quantity is exported to India, where prices
Colton,
have been favourable.
11. There was a decrease in quantity of dates and fruits exported in
1878 owing to partial failure of the
Dale9, fntilt.
harvest.
12. A prohibitoiy duty having been
Persian tobacco.
imposed in Turkish Arabia, a direct trade
with Syria has sprung up.
13. Of the imports to Persian ports there has been a large increase in
cotton stuffs, to be attributed partly to a
Cotton poods.
portion of the supply for Tehran and
Tabreez having been imported through Bushire, instead of by the north­
ern routes, and partly by reductions made at Shiraz in duties in favour of
Persian merchants. The goods have not proved remunerative, the
market being over-stocked.
14. The trade with Java in sugar has fallen off, and instead of the
soft description of that place, loaf-sugar
Sugar.
is imported from Europe and Mauritius.
• Appendix C. The tables* will show the variations in
other articles.
15. The inconvenient scarcity of Persian money in South Persia was
alluded to in the last Annual Report, and
Specie.
this inconvenience is still felt. In Bushire.
krans are at the rate of 220 per 100 rupees. Until last year the Quan­
tity of specie exported from Persia had for generations exceeded the
import. But in 1878 the import of silver in rupees, dollars and also
bars was considerable, and much in excess of the export. The silver
imported is mostly sent to Tehran, where it is coined into krans.
16. An increase in the quantity of copper is thought to denote im-
^ provement in the domestic condition of
the agriculturists, especially those engag­
ed in cultivation of the poppy.