Page 43 - 3 Persian Trade rep KUWAIT 1_Neat

5
and others if selling liavo to ho sold at a loss. Messrs. Gray Paul & Co.,
Bush ire, liavo sent over some largo consignments.
"Loaf sugar” shows a drop of Us. 8,423 and the reason given for it is a
curious one. Loaf sugar, it is said, used to ho brought over to sell oven at a
loss to buy wheat and sell before tho date of paymont for loaf sugar fell due.
The decrease in imports of wheat has therefore affected tho import of loaf sugar.
44 Mats” show a falling off of Us. 11,300 duo probably to poverty and
slackness in building trade and peoplo canuot afford to renow old ones.
" Onions ” oliow a doorcase of Its. 4,725. Probably owing to had harvest,
tho usual supply did not corao and onions had to ho imported from India (vide
returns for steamers).
" Piece goods ” have fallen considerably and show a decrease of
Its. 1,84,000. Tho decrease is duo to poverty. This cloth is chiefly used by
the womenfolk and is manufactured in Shuster in Persia and imported hero via
Muhammerah. Thera arc 3 varieties of tho cloth. One of them is known as
"malafa” which is very fine and used for veils by women. A web is 14 Thara’as
long and about 3*4 Thara’as broad. A Thnra’a is equal to half a yard. Tho
other two sorts have the came breadth hut differ in length and price. These
are used generally for making women’s drosses after dyeing them in different
shades.
“Eico” shows a falling off of Es. 22,000 which i3 attributed to poor
harvests in Turkish Arabia and high prices. Also large balance from the pre­
vious year’s import. Some rice also comes from India by country craft.
"Tobacco” shows also a big drop of E.s. 2,13,200 and the reason assigned
for less import is that the merchants had a large quantity in hand from the
previous year’s imports and poor market due to poverty of the smoking classes.
It i3 interesting to note that about 35 to 40 bales of tobacco went to
Jeddah by land. They were probably Iraq tobacco adulterated with Indian.
“ Water.” This is a new entry and the import is considerable amounting to
Bs. 39,000. This is brought from the Shalt-cl-Arab. About 20 local craft confine
themselves to this trade. The water is brought in large wooden tanks that fit
into tho sailing vessels and distributed in the town in kerosine oil tins. They
venture only datc3 from last year, hut is competing very successfully with the
ordinary donkey brought water from the local wells. * Price given is the sale
price on the beach aud does not include poterage to consumers* house.
"Wheat” shows a considerable falling off of Es. 45,000 and is explained
by the bad harvest in Persia.
"Wood for building boats” shows an increase of Es. 46,S00. This is
chiefly duo to the inclusion of new items which were omitted in last year’s
returns. Keports of the wood trade are very discouraging. There is no demand
either here or in Basrah and large stocks are on hand unsaleable.

Exports ly Steamer*.
" Arms and ammunition.” An export of the value of Es. 1,05,000 appears
in these returns for the first time. The amount represents the value of the
firearms taken by the Sheikh of Koweit to Muhammerah in his own steam
yacht to help his friend tho Sheikh of Muhammerah in an expedition.
. “ Animals.” There is a large falling off of Es. 14,535 in this export due to
.
high prices of slaughter animals and few animals coming to Koweit. A great
chango is however anticipated, as rains have failed and Bedouins are anxious to
get rid of live stock unable to support the rigours of tho hot weather. At the
time of writing (April 1909) tho price of slaughter shcop and livo stock has
fallen 80 per cent
" Barley ” was not imported from tho Persian coast and therefore
available for re-export nono was