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654* 1° a despatch No. 5, dated 25th May 1883, to the Foreign Office, the
Minister at Tehran called attention to the
A., Gener*! E., April 1883, Nos. 4-7.
A., General E., August iS8j, Nos. 19*31. advantage of establishing bonded ware­
houses at Bushire. The Persian Govern*
ment agreed to establish such a warehouse at that port for goods on payment
of a duty of 1 per cent, and they stipulated that goods which were subsequently
re-exported to other Persian ports or were sent into the interior from Bushire
should then pay the balance of the import duty, namely, 4 per cent. The use
of these warehouses was to be optional, as the Persian Government made it clear.
Since the proposal was made, a treaty of commerce between the Netherlands
and Persia (Aitchison’s Treaties Vol. X,
A., Pol. E., February 1884, Nos. 402*405.
Appendix 44, Persia) was signed, under
which goods could be re-exported from Bushire upon payment of a duty of 1 per
cent, in addition to some charge for storage. All other Powers enjoying the most­
favoured-nation treaty clause would of course be entitled to the same privilege.
655. The question of the expediency of taking further steps to put this
clause into practice, and thus obtaining the establishment of bonded warehouses
at Bushire was then brought under the consideration of the Government of India,
and opinions of the Chambers of Commerce, Bombay and Karachi, were invited
through the Bombay Government on the proposed measure.
656. These Chambers of Commerce anticipated advantages from the establish­
ment of a bonded warehouse at Bushire.
A , Pol. E., June 1SS4, Nos. 223-33.
On the other hand, the opinion of the best
informed merchants in the Gulf was not favourable to their institution. When
the Gulf traffic was carried on by buggalows and other sailing ships, the need of
an entrepdt was much felt. At that lime Lingah and Bandar Abbas formed
entrepots for the adjacent Persian and Arab coasts, while Bushire transhipped to
Koweit, Mohammerah, Shuster, Basrah, Bahrein, etc. But since the establish­
ment of steam communication in the Gulf, Bushire has lost its importance, has
an entrepdt and in 1884 there was scarcely any re-export trade at that port.
657. The Government of India in submitting the correspondence to the
Secretary of State observed in this despatch No. 72, dated 13th June 18S4 : —
t( If the assurances given by the Persian Government, that the use of the bonded
warshousc will be optional and will not involve an additional charge of one per cent, duty,
can be relied upon, we should be inclined to accept the arrangements advocated by Her
Majesty’s Minister at Tehran. But it seems improbable that they will be of much real
benefit to trade in the Persian Gulf. ”
658. When the British Minister read this correspondence, he expressed his
surprise that the opinions of the Bushire
External A., March 1885, Nos. 40-43.
authorities had undergone a change from
what it was once before, when annoyance was felt at the want of drawback, and
at the expense of re-shipping goods, etc.
The existing indifference of the British merchants was in variance
with the opinion of the French Government and indeed of all Foreign
Governments concerned, who complained that by the non-ratification of the
Perso-Dutch treaty foreign traders were deprived of the privilege of re-exporting
their goods on payment of i per cent, instead of 5 per cent., and that they
were all desirous of securing this concession (Mr. Ronald Thomson to the
Government of India, dated 28th September 1884).
659. Colonel Ross, on being consulted, confined his observations to two
points—
(1) The system of bonded warehouses as applicable to Bushire only.
(2) Its extension to other ports, such as Bandar Abbas and Lingah.
In regard to (i), Colonel Ross drew attention to his previous reports, which
showed how Bushire had ceased to be a port fofre-expeirt trade and that there
was no likelihood of this trade reviving at BuShife. He thought that the provision
of these warehouses was a step in the right direction and might be accepted by
the British Government, although their establishment was not likely to affect
British trade to any material extent.
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