Page 610 - PERSIAN 8 1931_1940_Neat

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The Iv. L. M. continued their direct service between Jask and Basra and
33 of their machines landed at Bushirc to refuel or take up passengers.
In August, the Acting Governor of Bushire invited a number of the lending
merchants and traders to subscribe towards the upkeep of the newly formed
Civil Aviation Club of Iran. By various means a sum of Rials 50,000 was
collected. Tho authorities, however, did not consider this sum to be sufficient
ami further efforts were made. Eventually, towards the end of the year, after
almost every man, woman and child in Bushirc had been asked to contribute, a
sum of Rials 140,000 was collected and sent to Tehran. The authorities in
Tehran arc said to have been much impressed by the munificence of this contri­
bution and it is now feared they will ask for a similar subscription to be made
annually.
SECTION 6.
POLITICAL SITUATION.
Apparently acting under orders from Tehran, the local authorities have
this year devoted more attention than usual to the problem of effecting a much
needed improvement in agricultural conditions and among other things have
allotted a sum of Rials 270,000 for the construction of a dam, to be used for irri­
gation purposes, across the river Shahpur at a village named Saadabad in the
district of Shnbankarch, some 35 miles south east of Bushire. Work has
already been commenced on the dam and it is hoped that it will be completed
by the beginning of March. The engineers working on the dam are reported
to be also considering the possibilities of bringing u regular supply of drinking
■water to Bushire.
Towards the end of tho year a part}' of about 400 villagers from Dashfi and
Tangistan banded together to resist the demands of the military authorities who,
they claimed, under threat of making fictitious reports as to the number of rifles
found in the district, were extorting large sums of money from the villagers.
The activities of the malcontents have so far been purely local and a few of them
have been caught and punished.
SECTION 7.
MANUMISSION.
Tho undermentioned numbers of slaves were manumitted in 1939 :—
Bahrain Agency . Nil.
Sarjali Agency 112
Muscat Agency 17
A. C. STEWART,
Secretary to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.
SECTION 8.
TRADE AND TRADE FACILITIES.
General condition.—There has been little change in the general trade situa­
tion since last year, and the forwarding business remains the chief type of com­
mercial activity. Fears that the trade wliich lias been passing through Bnshire
would be almost entirely diverted to Bandar Shahpur have not yet been fnlfilled,
partly because storage accommodation and other facilities at Bandar Shahpur
are still inadequate, and on the whole Bushire has been somewhat busier than in
1938.
Table 1 A ; shows the quantity of goods imported and exported during the
year. Figures are for the most part received in packages, but for the purpose
of comparison (according to the system adopted in previous years) are converted
into tons at the rough estimate of ten packages to a ton. It is not possible to
give details of the classes of imports and exports, or of their sources and desti­
nations, as the information cannot be obtained from the Customs authorities ;
nor is it possible to make any estimate of the goods imported and exported by
sailing vessels.
Compared with the figures for 1938, imports have risen by over 25 per cent,
and exports by over CO per cent., though both are less than in 1937. Dues
realized by the Customs during the year, including road and monopoly taxes,
may be estimated at about sixty-three million rials ; figures for previons years
are not available.