Page 23 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

PART I—CHAPTER IV.
7
CHAPTER IV.
Duty on horses and mules : Export and Import Duties in Persia,
1822*23—1835*42.
In a letter dated and December 1822, addressed to the Governor of Bombay,
Sheikh Abdul Rassul of Bushire stated that
Volume 103 of 18*3, p»ge 120. he ^ been emp0WCre(j bv the Persian Gov­
ernment to levy a tax on all horses and mules exported from Bushire to India,
but that he had not exercised this privilege in case of horses shipped by officers
of the East India Company, at the cost of his own purse, inasmuch as the Persian
Government took into account to his credit these duties as actually levied. The
Sheikh, however, pretended to be ignorant as to whether this exemption was
authorized by the Government of Bombay and desired to know their wishes in
the matter.
The Resident at Bushire reported in March 1823, that the Sheikh of
Bushire had actually begun to levy a duty
ibid, page 24. 0f g rUpees on the export of horses, a duty
which was quite new. The Resident protested against the exaction of the duty
until instructions were received from the Bombay Government or Major Willock,
the British representative at the Court of Tehran, to whom he had written.
On the representations of the British Minister, the Shah issued a far man*
• A tchison's Treaties (1892), Volume x, page in July—August 1823j to the Governor-
38. General of Fars directing that “ with regard
to horses and other property and goods belonging to British subjects, no duties
shall in future be levied except such as long established usages authorize."
In 1842, Colonel Robertson asked Mr. I. A. Malcolm, an Armenian Mer­
chant of Bushire, to furnish hint with statements of the then existing export duties
on Persian horses and mules contrasted with those six years previously, as also
of any increase of duty imposed on articles of import and export since 1836.
The memorandum submitted by Mr. Malcolm, dated 10th October 1842, is
printed below:—
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 8th October, desiring
me to furnish you with a statement of the present export duties on Persian horses and
mules contrasted with those of six years ago ; as also of any increase of duty imposed on
Articles of import and export since 1836 either by the order of the Sheikh of Bushire with­
out the knowledge of higher authorities; or, by special sanction of the latter.
In reply, I beg to state that, in 1836, the export duty on Persian horses and mules
was usually charged at 13 Mahomed Shah Rupees each, which custom regularly continued
up to 1839, when after the Resident's removal to Karrack, an enhanced duty of 50 Mahom­
ed Shah Rupees, by public sanction of the Government, imposed and charged at
Shiraz on each Persian horse that was brought down here, over Fars, to be exported to
India, but this was spared for those horses brought for exportation from the surrounding
districts; and nothing beyond the established duty of 13 Mahomed Shah Rupees, was
charged upon them, before last year when, in its latter end, few horses that were brought
from the Districts and exported for India, the same enhanced duty imposed at Shiraz of 50
Mahomed Shah Rupees, was besides the 13 Mahomed Shah Rupees charged here upon
each; but whether by public sanction or approbation of High Authorities, or otherwise I
cannot aver. No change has as yet taken place in this enhanced export duty on horses—
with only this exception that, in the latter end of last September when some horses were
brought from the Bushire Districts, and exported to India, in lieu of charging in cash the
enhanced duty of 50 Mahomed Shah Rupees, only a security was taken from the Pro­
prietors to meet afterwards, the demand if it would be the order of the Governor of Fars
that they ought to have paid the enhanced duty. The case was consequently submitted
I believe to the notice of that Authority, but no reply has, as yet, been received here to that
effect.
With regard to mules exported for India no enhanced duty was ever charged, or
intended to impose upon, until the latter end of December 1841 when I purchased mules for
Captain Goodson of the Bark *' Ganges," of the Isle of the Mauritius, and Noor Alla Khan,
the Surhang attempted, although without success, to impose the above enhanced duty of the
horse upon each mule too, the particulars of which, I have had the honour of bringing to
your notice by my letters of the 4th and 26th February and of 7th March. I beg to add
that when I purchased and exported mules on account of Captain Ginrin of “ La Navarin "
in November 1839, I paid only the established export duty of 13 Mahomed Shah Rupees