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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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