Page 520 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (I)_Neat

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up by the cier.cs 1 have taxen the available
l’l ures as a basis on which to la;.e an average tor

the boats whose figures are not obtainable, it
shcuici be reneaberea that zy f l • ures are cniy
aoproximate and they represent the rocxbottom

prices o! the pearls v/hicn change hanas many
times before they ieave Bahrain each time increas­
ing the price of the pearls. Unfortunately l
only began to examine these accounts a ieY< years

ago, when the slump in the pearl trade began but
before io4'//48 the figures of the sales would
have been very much higher.

6. 1 give below the particulars of the last
five seasons.
Year. tfo of Totax value cf
boats. pearls m Rs.

1048/4^ bus 01 ,&b,UVA>/ -
io4^/bo bu4 i8,oo,0uo/-
iobu/5i 4b6 i0,i4,uuu/-
lbb c 4o6 io,4o,u0u/-
io5o o4u iu,uu,uuu/-

The uatch. The public m general are of
the cpinion that the banxs are producing less
pearls than they used to. 1 qo not tiling that
this can be assumed. The .nrabs in the pearl

industry ao not tuxe into consideration the de­
crease in the number oi boats. ,;hen they send

out less boats the production must decrease.
They also argue that the quality or peuris has
deteriorated, that fewer valuable peuris are
louna, in this again they ao net taice into con­

sideration the general slump m prices oi pearls
but they make comparisons between the season ana
seasons when the market was nourishing, The
highest price :aia lor t single jean during the