Page 467 - 3 Persian Trade rep KUWAIT 1_Neat

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valorem is charged, and there is no export duty, Labour.
except on goods brought in from the Interior, such
larificd butter, hides, wool, etc., on which 4 The price of labour remained high throughout the
is l
per cent is charged if exported, also on stone and year, an unskilled labourer earned from 4*. to 5*.
sand for building. 4d. a day, a carpenter from 9/. 4d. to 12*., a mason
The arrangement for lightering and landing cargo from I3j. 4rf. to lGr. a day, and a boat builder from
at Kuwait arc .superior to those at any Port in the 4a. to 8a.
Persian GulL
Minerals.
Freight, Shipping and Navigation. The only mineral product worked is gypsum mor­
tar, which is manufactured by the simple process
Kuwait owns about 220 sailing baits engaged in of firing rubbish in broad shallow excavations. There
the carrying trade, aa distinct from pearling and is a large gvp>ifcrous tract on the outskirts of Kuwait
fishing boats, of these sixty-two have a carrying town, and*it is found in several other parts of the
capacity of over 100 tons, including 8 of over 300 principality,
tons and 20 of over 230 tons.
The British India Steam Navigation Company, Domestic Animals.
Limited, maintain a weekly service from, and a
The most valuable domestic animals are camels,
fortnightly service to India. of which there arc large numbers, sheep, goats and
Steamers owned, or chartered by, the Persian donkevs. Of the latter many of a large white breed.
Gulf Steam Navigation Company, Limited (13), originally from Hasa, are found in the town. These
H. M. If. Ncniazi (8 including 4 Japanese), the are sometimes over thirteen Lands in height, and
Western Steam Navigation Company, Limited (4), a good one will fetch over £45. There are also some
H. M. Muhammad Shirazi (1) ami Khandwani Steam- horned cattle aud horses,
ship (1) also called on the way from India as induce­
ment offered. Agriculture.
With the exception of one Romanian steamer,
Neither Kuwait nor its environs can boast of any
all steamers entering the port were sailing under the agricultural resources. There are no date planta­
British flag. tions of any value, no fields, and not many kitchen
^ The rate of freight by the British India Steam gardens. A few small villages to the south-east of
Navigation Company’s steamers was £1-4-0 per ton Kuwait supply a limited though increasing quantity
on Dates and £1-13-0 per ton on general cargo to of vegetables and melons. The chief agricultural
Bombay aud Karachi and £1 from Bombay and centre in the principality is Jahrah. The staple
Karachi. crops are wheat, barley and lucerne, but musk
The average rate of freight by the other lines was melon*, water melons, pumpkins, beans and some
£1 per ton from Bombay and I8s. per ton from Kara- other vegetables are also grown, and there are some
chi. 2,0lHj date trees. The above crops are mostly
irrigated, but a 6inall amount of wheat and barley
is grown by rainfall alone. The agriculture of
Sea Fisheries.
Jahrah might be considerably increased if more
The only truly local produce of Kuwait is that money were sunk in it.
yielded by the harbour fisheries, which area valuable The next most important agricultural centre is
asset. Besides float-and-weight nets and lines, the island of Failakah where wheat and barley are
traps or tidal weirs, constructed of reed hurdles grown with some success on the clayey patches,
are also employed; the fish enter them with the also lucerne, melons and some vegetables. There
flowing tide and are left behind at the ebb. The are some date trees towards the south of the island
majority of the fish caught is consumed locally, but but they are not in a flourishing condition, and the
a small proportion is dried and exported to Basrah agriculture of the island is generally inferior to that
and elsewhere. of Jahrah.
Boat Building. RainfalL
Twenty three boats, of an aggregate value of The total rainfall during the year waa 5-65 inchee
£8,000 were built during the year. Of these, two and was distributed as follows :—
had a carrying capacity of over 100 tons, fifteen April 192J *89
had a carrying capacity of over 50 tons and six had Dumber 1923 . *82
January 1924 .
a carrying capacity of over 10 tons. This figure is February 1924 . . 3 23
•36
not included in the trade tables. M^rch 1924 *34