Page 9 - 5 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE I_Neat

No. 3581. Animal Series*

Reference to previous Report, Annual Series No. 3408.

Report or the Trade and Commerce of Rashirr. for the Year 1905

By Mb. Vice-Co.\'sul Richards.

(Bashire, ifarch IS, 1006; receired xt Foreign OiHrc, April 17, 1906.)

On Janaary 1. 1905, everything pointed to a favourable and
prosperous year. A plentiful supply of rain fell early in December,
which enabled the land to be brought under cultivation, and an
exceptionally good and large harvest was looked for, which
eventually proved to be the case. In early April signs of trouble
began to manifest themselves in a dispute between the merchants
and the new Director of Customs, who was anxious to bring into
force at once all the articles of the Reglement Legal, which had
become law on September 1, 1904.
The Persian merchants not understanding the new rules, which
were in some instances peculiarly unadaptable to the port of Bushire,
and fearing that they meant further taxation and hampering of
trade, decided to boycott the custom-house and to appeal to Teheran,
seeking the assistance not only of their fellow countrymen in Shiraz
and Ispahan, but of European firms in Bushire to support them in
their petition. Meetings were held, both by the European and
Persian merchants, to decide what course they should pursue, the
latter deciding to refuse to clear their cargo from the custom-house,
to cancel previous orders and to make no fresh ones until they
received some redress to their appeal The European merchants
also were ultimately driven to follow suit and to refrain from
clearing their goods by way of protest against what appeared to
be the harsh application of the Reglement.
This dispute lasted from five to six weeks, when a modus vivendi
was arrived at regarding the clauses in the Reglement which were
most objected to as harsh and inapplicable to the peculiarities of the
port of Bushire. The dispute and boycotting resulted in a very
heavy decrease in the custom-house returns for the first six months
of the year when compared with those of 1904, and is partly
responsible for the total decrease of 127,8931 on the whole year.
Trade was practically at a standstill in April and May.
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