Page 430 - 5 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE I_Neat

Aggregate rates of hire per t* a bet awn The total imports thus d*vreaepd br £125 9:,3
Ik-hire and Isfahan thus varied bet * on &xmt as comj'arc-1 with 1912-13 As was fore,
£21.19-0 in June at. 1 some £30 in December. shadowed in lust year’s report, tliere was an
Hates for unbilled goods are higher. enormous drop in the value of ordinary cvlton
Ahwnz-Isfnlmn.—Forwardings by tb? Company piece-goods, which fell from £518,393 to £320,57,9
managing the road have been as follows:— a differonce of £197,1*39 or SS per cent. When it
is considered that imports of specie account for a
further decrease of £ Hi,000, and that the progress
Ur-COC'TBT. Dowxootxt. of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company at Mohan-
month had much reduced the market for foreign
kerosene, it is, if anything, surprising that the
Package*. Tona. Package*. T^p.
local decrease should have boon so small. Other
commodities showing large decreases wera
101) . 1,319 a?x crystal sugar (£17,137) and candles (£0,583).
1911 613 32 5 There were notable advances in loaf sugar
(£11,015), iron and steel bars (£0,311), iron and
1012-13 12,313 729 3,0:1 2’0
ste-d manufa. lures (£2,1 S3), tin, lead and zinc
1913-14 18,915 l.ltl 6.9:7 iu bars (£0,995), copper and nickel (£0,203), and
rice (£15,829).
It is estimated that independent forwardings A period of famine in Shiraz about Novem­
amounted at least to a similar quantity. ber accounted for the importation of the unprece­
Transport during the year under review was dented quantity of over 1,100 tons of flour and
nearly 400 tons of wheat—a process which
generally plentiful and prompt, and during the on'.inarilv partakes of the carriage of coals to
periods ot scarcity of mules on the Bv.ihirc- Newcastle.
Shiraz road, goods origirally d-'stined :*;*r B:;*hire
diverted to Ahwaz. Only one large r-:.bc-ry took Otherwise the tendency of the maiket in
place. This occurred .*n 18th June, .13, when gen--ml stv-med to be to adjust itself to its normal
2■? mounted and unir.*anted brigand? drove off condition; lines such »s p:-:ce-goo<ls, which had
over 100 animals. From July onwards there be-rn hopelessly ovoi-oxphited in the provious
were constant complaints of lire hija price of years weie obliged to mark time, while metals
fo lder, cau-cd by a certain scarcity combined with manufactured and unmanufactured, which, as
scientific cornering, which in Septcmbrr thr-aten- u*'liccd in last year’s report, suffered from insecu­
ed to bring forwardings to an end. Except for rity and Iranspoit dilficulties, seem one* more to
a few days in December, when tlie roaJ was com­ be about to find their natuial level. The great
pletely blocked by snow, the road was passable exception of course is loaf sugar which is dealt
by m’jics throughout the winter. with in further detail below.
Volume of Trade.—Totals of imports and Though imports decreased in value, there
export*? for the last ton years are given in the was a marked increase in the weight, as may be
fallowing table. Figures have been converted at s en from the following:-—
55 krans to the £1, except those for 1’J07-03 Yew. Ton*.
(when the average rate of exchange was only just 190S-09 . 1VS1
. 16,404
1910- 11
over 50) which, for the sake of accurate compari­ 1909- 10 . . . 13.879
son, have been converted at 50. 1911- 13 * . 16.VJ7
1912- 13 . . 19.713
1913- 14 » . 23,614
Import*. Export*. Towards the inorea>e of 4,098 tons, loaf
sugar contributes about 2,600 and rice and
£ £ flour some 2,500 more.
1904 803 932 413.529
191*5 C92.GG6 427.25$ Exports show a drop of £35,326, which is
1900-07 . 733.311 544,019 almost entirely accounted for by the total failure
1507-08 . 1,032,043 497.590 of the harvest.
196-09 . 721,132
1500-10 . 651,901 393.269 Companion of trade of ration* eoantrie*.
&>»446
1910-11 . 623/28G 317.227 To take imports first: the proportion supplied
1511-1S , 847.756 613/200
1912-13 . 931.720 €37.091 by the United Kingdom dropped by 17 per cent-
1513-14 . 825,767 651.705 to 30-60 and that of the British Empire to onlj
62*7.4 per cent.