Page 348 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

48 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF THE PERSIAN GULF POLITICAL RESIDENCY
have made an annual pilgrimage to the Nijni Novgorod fair, where they
make their purchases and dispose of their goods. It would be possible lu
change this, now very unnatural, proceeding, but for the fact that the Russian
merchants give credit, and frequently long credit,, thus enabling the Persian
merchant to delay his payment, a fact which always appeals to him c veil
though he knows that he must he paying interest for his delay.
Notwithstanding that 1 have written pointing out the value of the
Kamadan and Kermanshah markets, and that 1 have requested that Chambers
of Commerce should be sent copies of my letters, I have up to date received
no enquiries and no samples, except from two firms whom I approached
direct. In woollen goods there is a market of £30,000 annually which is
almost entirely in foreign hands and which total could be considerably
increased, but apparently British merchants arc frightened by the unsettled
condition of the country. As a matter of fact the state of the country makes
very little difference where important and reputable merchants arc concerned.
It is, further, as safe to deal with such men as with their confreres in India,
for they cannot afford to leave unmet bills which arc due, any more than
could a merchant in a big business either in England or in India. The
mistake most foreign firms make is leaving their work to agents who are
Persians or Jews, but in either case unreliable men; thus bad debts crop up
through sales to merchants who arc unreliable as payers.
The whole question turns on agency and if several companies would
despatch here a good agent for a year as a trial, they would speedily be doing
a large business, since not only would they supply the big merchants but the
smaller fry and the retail sellers also. I wrote to the Cawnporc Woollen Mills
in the above terms, but nothing has come of it. I then approached Messrs.
Blockey, Gree & Co., agents at Baghdad, and they have referred the question
home to their head office, telling me that they have always known that the
time must come for such a move. In the meantime, Messrs. Berk, Puttmann
& Co., the German Baghdad firm, have, as I am informed, taken a house in
Kerinanshah on a year’s lease, with a view to starting an agency of the kind
I have been suggesting for so long.
There is a special opening for cheap boots and shoes not of the hobnail
or farmer type, but the ordinary Oxford shoe and boot, both being of strong
make with toes inclined to be pointed.
When there is a branch of the Bank at Ilamadan, it will give a great
fillip to our trade. It is difficult to understand why one has not been opened
before now. Kermanshah is a paying branch and Iiamadhn has about five
times the turnover that Kermanshah has.
European Dr. Bongrand arrived from Tehran on the 23rd April and after a short
v Li tori. stay proceeded to Kasr-i-Shirin to institute a quarantine against plague on
the frontier, in which work he was assisted by M. Cesari, at that time employ­
ed by the Customs department. Dr. Bongrand returned to Kermanshah with
M. Cesari in June, having suffered greatly from fever, and returned to
Tehran some time in July during my absence. M. Cesari quarrelled with
the Customs department over some details and was finally dismissed. lie
died at the end of the year.
Dr. Kurt Jung, Commercial Delegate from the German Embassy at
Constantinople, was deputed by the German Government to study trade• Pros‘
poets in Persia. He arrived on the 29th April and left for Hamadan (thenc
to Ispahan) on the 6th May.
Lieutenant Williams, 4th Cavalry, Army Remount Department, *yriyed
at Kermanshah on the 6th June in command of a deputation for purchasing
mules. Lieutenant Farran, 4th Cavalry, his assistant, arrived with the mai
arty of the deputation on the 14th June. Lieutenant Farran was
K ionic, leaving Kermanshah on the 30th September. Lieutenant \ i *
purchased some 500 mules and left for Baghdad in the middle ot Uctooer.