Page 172 - 5 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE I_Neat

10 HUS 111 REL
responsibility for missing goods from the employes of the one to the
employes of the other. As the customs employ watclimcn it is difficult
to sec why they should not undertake the responsibility for the dis­
appearance, for instance, of a bale ofT the customs wharf at night.
Complaints as to the ground damage done in the rainy season to
goods stored in the open are likely to diminish, since the administration
has undertaken the proper drainage of one of its courtyards.
It has been arranged that the institution of charges for customs
tally-clerks, working after the office hours of the customs, shall be
delayed until the customs wharf is put in a proper state of repair.
Chamber of Commerce.—In December, 1908, the representatives
of British firms decided for a variety of purposes in which they had
common interests to form themselves into a small Chamber of Commerce
to be known as the Busliire British Chamber of Commerce. The
members have met regularly except in the summer montlis. The
initiative had originally been supplied by a suggestion on the part of
a former Minister of Commerce that the Fersian Government, when
dealing with request for a prohibition of the export of grain, might
be able to get an unbiassed opinion from Chambers of Commerce
composed of both Persian and European merchants in various parts
of the country.
CoUor, goods.—The values of imported goods for the past six years
have been:—
Manchester
TotaL
Export.
£ £
1903 275,277 201,068
1904 307,770 277,168
1905 301.141 257,132
1906- 07 362,939 270,452
1907- OS 529,352 441,992
190S-O9 397,020 315,483

And the weights shown in the customs statistics as imports from
the United Kingdom and India respectively:—

I
From United From i Total
Year.
Kingdom. India. I Imports.
Cwts. Cwts. Cwts.
1905 46,486 3,552 53,197
1906- 07 33,696 9,928 44,241
1907- 08 51,330 11,023 63,262
1908- 09 34,459 9,906 44,962
!

The decrease in total weight of 18,300 cwts. does not accurately
represent the complete stagnancy of sales throughout the year, and the
great risks which importers incurred apart from the dangers accruing
from insecurity of transport. For one thing, the several failures
during 1903-09 concerned almost exclusively dealers in Manchester
goods, whose credit had been heavily over-estimated, and who had