Page 387 - 5 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE I_Neat

19
Th* supply being limited practically to one Expouts.
brand, it was an easy matter to raise the price Wheat amt Barley.- -The failure of the spring
considerably, ami by the end of the year about rains, the most important factor for the harvest
It! Karans*( 7s. 0. ) p.-r ease of two tins was be­ in the Gulf region, in 1912 had re-nltod in a poor
ing paid. At the end i»f the period however the yield in all districts of the littoral, and, coupled
Perrim juvluet "f th‘ «>il:ieM? near Ah wax h«*gan with the severity of the epulmiic of plague in
to brought down fr«.:n the refinery m-ar M<*h.un- llu-hiro town, which la-t-.d till June, effectually
uiiTah, and in competition with other brands was stopped all further purchase, prices of wheat in
sold at about Id Karans or (Is. Sd.) per case. March 1912 opening at lb Kraus ;(»j.*G#/.), and
Jfttali. — In no branch of iui|>orts into Persia quickly passing 20 Krans (7*-3»/) jwr llashern
tin' the Persian Gnlf has so little progress been man of lit lbs. With the exception of heavy
made in the past 7 years as in Metals, and manu­ arrivals from one Da<hti part in March and early
factures. In 19U7-0* .517,572 of copper bars, April, th' quantities of grain brought into Bushire
plates, etc., was imported; in 1908-05) £23,0:52; in during the jieriod under review were confined to
15)12-13 onlv £>77. Iron hare, plates, etc.., were the needs of the town ; and the quantities recorded
12,72(5 in 1907-08; £1,057 in 1012-13. Tin, Zinc, as exported to Europe between March and June
etc, £9,015 in 1907-0?; £3,230 in 1912-13. practically the whole of the expert from I3u-
The decrease in Copper sheets was the most no­ shire [itsef), viz: —
ticeable feature in 1912-13. 3,170 Tons Wheat to the Unite! Kingdom,
Disorder and insecurity have no doubt militated 2«>t „ .. Germany,
ugaiustthe import of recent years, and animal trans­ 2.931 „ Barley
„ „ the United Kingdom,
171
port makes the transport of heavv metal goods _ , ,, . 0 , , . .
impossible : but a great deal might be done by j a]l 10 Cu;iluro aoJ louobt Pre”
tirrcs redirecting their attention towards supplying vmus to Apru 191 —
Central Persian markets, e.y.t Isfahan and Yazd. ^bc harvest 191 ~ ,n. ^ie ^^tncts of the
In Bushire and other coast towns there seems httoral dependent on Buslnrc was estimated to
uo reason why steel beams should not be used in bav.e, pranced about 2o,U00 tons, m addition to
' wbich some 4,000 tons remained over From tue
! w.uim, ru„r toui o? mm ton,
l rafww) LJwiseJ.as<Itl.« J ir.ibmtyis-r^ior. ! available for all need, ol tlie papulation, and
Tbe.-i ivouM to a dJ.n.n.l f fowl I l: latlnorv in . to other ports of tbo Cralf and to Laron-,
tins district it com; • :nt er. ■•moorin’ linn, made i Al““ f""“ lh« :J.*a ion, of whrat and • ,UIS
a point of visitin'* the pvt fro-aacntlr "and advising tons of tarl-y oxp -rted to turopc.wmcU as slated
I’eriian merchants and land-titters' where maebi- 1 above prop-riy b. Us to the prwjoas yor the
nerv could be used with profit. j proportion of the harvest of 15)12 disposed of iu
A ::o Cm'.Oh'.s Hon if.—During the course of the llusliiiv and other coast p.^rts during March 191*2-
vea: 1913-14, the construction of the cew Customs 13 was about 11/290 tons, distributed as fol­
House at Bushire, a need long felt, will be lows : —
begun. The work is anticipated to Inst about two Wheat. Btrlej.
years. j
Propose! increase of Cuslyr. f Tariff.—A scheme I
has been put forward bv the Trea**nrer-General of • Transiti> pjl from *xn:dl coast ports
Persia for a considerable increase of the Customs T «rhrou-4lc. inland to Bud,iw 3,S;0 ^ 924
. .
j
, Transhipped From s:na<l co-'t porJs
du^c-s on import of >.,m* ol) it -ins, and this is at t0 Mohamuicrah or Persian Ports, 3,510 ! 327
present under consideration. The object of the Exported to non-l’orsan v»uli Pcrts . 3,822 i 357
proposal is to provide security for a large loan.
For the whole Persian Empire the Customs duties Totit toss 9,082 1,608
and the charges bring in a gross revenue of bet­
ween £700,900 to £>00,000 per annum ; but The home consumption of wheat and barley in
expenses of administration are heavy, and the the districts concerned from Bandar Dilam to
bulk of the net revenue is hypothecated to the Southern Dashti has been estimated at about
service of British and Russian Loans. 14,000 tons annually. Thus by March 1913 of
The present Customs Tariff is very discrimina­ the total of *29,000 tons visible supply for 1912-
tive, and based for the most part on weights. 1913 a balance of some 3,700 tons was probably
While most lines of Cooton goods, mere espe­ in hand in these districts.
cially coloured goods, sugars, kerosene and metals The greater part of this remained in Borazjun,
are lightly taxed, rarely exceeding 5 per cent. and in the districts of Tangistan and Dashti
(kerosene less than 2 per cent.), there are certain south and east of Bushire, for heavy purchase* by
qualities of Manchester and Bombay Cottons, the nomads had depicted the reserves of the
which by reason of heavy weight, are already districts north of Bushire by April 1913.
charged as much as 8 per cent ad ca'orem. Many As already indicated under the paragraph
article?, particularly* food stuffs, axe however “WEATHER and RAINFALL” the effect of
grossly overtaxed at present, and an increase ran poor harvest of 1912 was aggravated by the rain
only load to smuggling, to the detriment of legiti­ standing off almost entirely during the ploughing
mate trade by tond fide Persian traders and season, and another feature of the spring rains
British merchants. With so long a line of sra.- in February and March 1913 not only destroyed
ooast, and so great a lack of Government control all prospect of an export to Eurojie in 1913 but
along it, while the Arab ports of Bahrain, Kuwait, caused extreme scarcity among the population
Dubai, Maskat, opposite the Persian coast, cannot of some districts. This was the more to be regretted
charge more than 5 per cent, on imported goods, as prices for Bushirc wheat in Loudon were high
smuggling is bound to result from any too great for a large part of the year, vis., 3vs. per quarter.
an excellent of duty above the 5 per cent, [ad vatu- Over a large area the yield barely covered the
rcui) standard. quantity of seed sown, but the large district of