Page 426 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

10 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OF TIIE PERSIAN GULF
in the Gulf Trade resulting from the failure of crops and scarcity of grain.
Their vessels brought 17,097 packages to Bushire as compared with 19,809 in
1908 and 3 of the steamers left the Gulf in ballast. Only 2,057 packages were
exported from Bushire as compared with 4,272 in 1908.
The chief item of import has been Belgian sugar and Galician kerosine,
but, owing to their direct connection with Antwerp, the German line are
generally at an advantage compared wih the 3 British Lines. Messrs. Wonck-
haus now have ten Europeans in the Gulf ports, and the German line
appears to depend on them for its cargo; thus, out of 104,410 packages im­
ported to all Gulf ports 73.G82 were for Messrs. Wonckhaus or their clients.
Messrs. Wonekhaus & Co. have not been much in evidence during the
year as far as Bushirc is concerned. Like other firms importing from Europe,
and from the same causes, their local business was practically paralysed.
The only fact worthy of record is the attempt believed to have been made
by them to secure the Agency of the Society du Tambac. The contract for
shipping the Society’s consignments had of late years been in the hands of
the Russian Steamship Company, but this contract is shortly coming to an
end and the German Firm were anxious to secure the next one for German
Shipping.
His Majesty's Minister was addressed and received the authority of the
Foreign Office to do what was- possible, in co-operation with his Russian
colleague, to bring about the re-appointment of the Russian Agent when the
time came. His Majesty’s Charge d’Affaircs, Mr. Marling, reported in reply
that the Society was practically a department of the Ottoman Bank, and that
there was nothing he could do to influence it. The Tehran Manager however
informed him that the contract did not expire for another year, and that the
best offer obtainable when the time came, would be accepted.
The general health of Bushire has been good. As regards the rest of the
Gulf, there was a mild outbreak of
Quarantine and Health.
plague at Bahrain between' the 12th of
May and 24th of June, during which time 27 deaths from plague were re­
ported. The disease died out as in previous years as soon as the great heat
commenced.
The Quarantine Administration worked very smoothly throughout the
year; the Residency Surgeon’s relations with the Sanitary Council at Tehran
were cordial and satisfactory, and no causes of friction worth mentioning
arose in the Gulf.
The Residency Surgeon’s Memorandum is attached.
The Resident and His Majesty's Consul-General had received instruc­
tions during the previous cold weather
Movements and changes of officers.
to proceed to Tehran in the spring to
discuss various matters with His Majesty's Minister. His departure was
rendered impossible however by the Nationalist movement in Bushire, and the
season having become so far advanced by the time it became practicable for
him to leave, be requested permission, on urgent private grounds, to take 3£
months’ privilege leave to Europe and to proceed to Tehran from London.
Sanction was accorded to this proposal and he accordingly left on the 25th
of August, Major A. P. Trevor, First Assistant, acting for him during his
absence. Colonel Cox had a satisfactory visit to His Majesty’s Minister,
early in November, and returned to London, where he was detained on duty
until early in the new year.
The Residency Surgeon, Captain T. S. B. Williams, I.M.S., after 3J
years in the post, was placed on deputation, in November 1909, for the purpose
of continuing, at one of the leper hospitals in the Bombay Presidency, the
Deycke treatment which he had used with a considerable amount of success
among lepers -in Bushire (vide the last year's report).
He was relieved by Captain C. B. McConagby, I.M.S., formerly Resi-
dency Surgeon at Baghdad, on the 22nd of November.
Captain M. F. White, I.M.S., Mobile Assistant to the Chief Quarantine
Officer, proceeded on furlough in March 1909, and was not replaced, it being