Page 330 - PERSIAN 9 1931_1940

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Smugglers extended their activities as far as Tehran and at the same
I time flooded the markets in other towns. They bought seized goods at tho
official auctions and utilising the customs seals on these on their own
smuggled goods, passed them off for Customs Preventive sale goods. The
I Government had therefore to open a shop in each town for the sale of theiij
seized goods.
In the middle of the year when the rupee exchange rose up in Iran
smugglers took much silver out of the country to the Arab side of the Gulf
where they could purchase Rupees at Rials 290 a hundred as against Rials
600 to Rials 620 a hundred in Iran.
Government Measures for discouraging smuggling of contraband goods.
1. Sugar Company.—At the instance of His Excellency the Governor,
Muhammad Ali Mirza Rokni, a Company was formed by the local merchants
to buy sugar from the Customs Department, Bushire, for local consumption
in Bushire and its suburbs. Half of the Company’s capital Rials 150,000
(£2375) was provided by the merchants and the other half by Government.
His Excellency Ali Akbar, the Minister of Finance on his arrival here
in February arranged for the Company to be supplied with loaf sugar at
Rials 8 (2 shillings) a Batman (about 7 lbs.) and crystal sugar at Rials 7
(1/9d.) a Batman.
To these prices the Company might add Cts. 40 (a little over lrf.) a
Batman for their profit when selling the articles to retailers and the latter
could add Cts. 75 (2d. or a little more) when selling the articles to
consumers.
Seeing that the area of the Company’s activities was very limited
Lingah and district were subsequently included.
II. Company for sale of piece goods.—At the end of March another
Company was formed by the local merchants, at the instance of the
Governor, for the sale of piece goods in Bushire and Lingah and districts.
The capital Rials 600,000 (£7500) was provided by the merchants with less
reluctance than in the case of the Sugar Company.
This Company also buys peice goods from the Customs, Bushire, and
sells them to local drapers.
These measures helped to prevent the smuggling of sugar into Bushire
and perhaps Lingah towns, but piece goods and other contraband goods
continued to come in as they did before. The audacity of smugglers does
not seem to have abated. In three encounters which they had with the
Customs guards and the Amnieh (Road Guard) they defeated the latter,
killed 3 of them and succeeded in getting safely away with their caravans.
Only in one instance, in which the smugglers came up against a party of
conscripts, did they lose their ringleader and 6 of them were arrested. Five
officials who had abetted smugglers in their traffic were arrested and sent to
Shiraz for trial and punishment during the year under reference. The
aggregate amount to contraband goods captured by the officials of the
Customs Preventive Department during the year under reference came to
1465 packanges piece goods and sundries, 18 camels, 21 smugglers and 6
smugglers’ dhows.
Roads and Communications.—The Bushire-Shiraz road, the Coast
road which runs between Bushire and Lingah, and a third between Bushire
and Abadan were washed away after each fall of rain, and made impassa­
ble for more than a fortnight each. The motor car of His Excellency,
Davar, the Minister of Finance, while coming down from Shiraz had to be
manhandled at several spots before it could get through.
His Excellency said that the Government cannot bear the heavy
expense of maintaining this road and that they would repair the Bushire-
Firuzabad-Shiraz road which does not run through mountains and precipices
as the Bushire-Shiraz one does. But nothing had been done in this connec­
tion up to the conclusion of the year.

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