Page 50 - 5 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE I_Neat

6 BUSIIIRE.

miscellaneous goods in eases are reckoned at 15 krans (5*. 5d.)
dearer and donkey hire to Shiraz is 15 krans less.
So long os the usual caravan route remained closed in February
And March, 1007, donkey transport was scarce.
A recent trade report stated that the Bushire-Shiraz route
had suffered severely during the year from defcctivo transport
arrangements ; let it suffice to say that this year no deficient trans­
port has been apparent on the Bushire road, which has certainly
carried much more stuff than in 1005.
HIr* of Except during the months of harvest, April and May, the current
labour. rate for hire of labour was from 1J krans (6£d.) for a labourer
to 31 krans (1$. 3d.) for a mason.
Publio health. The health of the town and district continued excellent through­
out the year under review. The average weekly mortality of the
town with'its 25,000 inhabitants is only 10.
Import*. Of the total value of imports, 863,8421., the United Kingdom
and India together showed a percentage of 70 per cent, as against
65 per cent, in 1005, due chiefly to the very general advance of
Indian enterprise.
Of 102,0101., which represents the total imports from France, no
less than 07,0871. is the value of the loaf sugar sent up-country.
Austria-Hungary’s increase of 36,2821. is almost entirely made
up of a requisition by the Persian Government for guns and ammuni­
tion ; as with France, sugar nearly accounts for the rest of her
trade.
The considerable decrease of Turkish imports proceeds from a
diminution of the number of krans brought back to the country
from Baghdad and the holy places, though specie represents the
bulk of tills year’s imports.
The non-impoitation of Russian sugar and the much reduced,
imports of kerosene and piece-goods has reduced the percentage of
Russia from 5 per cent, to less than 1 per cent.
Imports from Germany, according to the statement furnished
by the administration, would seem to have diminished by 8051. to
24,4591. The. German origin, however, cf much of the merchandise
assigned to Germany is purely fictitious and misrepresents the
actual state of the case. Thus the matches valued at 2,1101. are
really manufactured in Sweden and transhipped from Hamburg;
the candles, valued at 1,2351., are of Dutch make. Most of the
loaf sugar entered as an import of 7,3591., and most of the soft
sugar valued at 7,6921., is Belgian sugar shipped in the German
steamers. The assignment of these items alone to their proper
places would reduce the share of Germany to less than 1 per cent,
of the total
The unreliability of the figures given by the customs—bo far
as regards the countries of origin of goods imported—arises from
the declarations made in all ignorance by Persian merchants and
allowed to pass uncorrected by the administration. A Persian
ordering matches through Hamburg as likely as not imagines that