Page 246 - 4 Persian Trade rep KUWAIT 2_Neat

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from India and a fortnightly service to India. The Labour.
steamers owned and chartered by (1) The Hansa The price of labour remained nearly the same as
Steamship Company of Bremen, Gcrinany and for the previous year. An unskilled labourer earned
(3) Th • Strick. Ellerman, and Buckni Lines of from Us. 1-0-*) to Us. 1-S-4J, a carpenter from Us. 3-8-0
London also called during the year under report to U*. 3-8-0 and a boat builder from Us. 2-8-0 to
but. their service has not been a regular one. The Us. 3-S-O per diem.
rate of freight by the British India Steam Naviga­
tion Company's earners was Rs. 13 from Bombay
and Karachi to Kuwait and from Kuwait to Bombay Minerals.
and Karachi was Rs. 13 per ton respectively through­
out the year. The only mineral product worked is gypsum
mortar, which is manufactured by the simple process
of firing rubbish in broad shallow excavations. There
Communication. is a large gypsiferous tract on the outskirts of
Kuwait Town and it U found in several other parte
Kuwait possesses a combined Tost and Telegraph of the principality.
office worked bv the Post and Telegraph Depart­
ment of the Iraq Government. Foreign rate> of Oil indications in the shape of a number of bitumen
postage and telegram charges are applicable from and oil .surface springs exist in the hinterland but
Kuwait to the United Kingdom and otlu*r countries. whether these can l»e worked commercially has yet
Mails for the United Kingdom and the continent to be seen.
ar»* despatched from Kuwait via the overland route
• Baghdad and Haifa) and take 14 days on an average,
letters can also be .-out by Air mail from Basrah Domestic Animals.
both to Kurope and India. Parcels from the United
Kingdom !<•: Kuwait take 3 to 3 weeks by the above- The most valuable domestic animal* arc camels
mentioned overland route and the C.O.D. and of which there arc large numbers, sheep, goat* and
In<urance system are also available. donkeys of the latter many of a large white breed
The Kuwait Motor Transport Company which is originally from Hassa, arc found in the towu. Theso
are sometimes over 13 hands in height and a good
al>o under a Po-tal contract with the Iraq Post one will cost about Us. 60. There are also some
arid Tel'-trmph Department for the conveyance of horses and a few homed cattle.
both sea mails from India and overland mails from
Basrah and vice re/.a continued to function between
Kuwait and Zubair. and maintained the road in good
condition. The fare by the company’s motors Agriculture.
is Us. 6-4-0 per seat and the journey each way on Neither Kuwait nor its environments can boast
an average occupies four hours. of any agricultural resources. There are no date
plantations of any value, no fields and not many
kitchen gardens. The villages to the south-east
Sea Fisheries. of Kuwait supply a limited but increasing quantity
The only truly local produce of Kuwait is that of vegetables and melons. The agricultural centre
yielded by the harbour fisheries which are a valuable in the principality is Jahrah which has greatly
a«=et. Besides boat and weight-nets and lines improved during the year owing to the facilities
traps or tidal weirs constructed of reed hurdles afforded by motor transport in taking the product*
are also employed: the fish enter them with the into town. There are over 2.500 date trees. The
flowing tide and are left behind at the ebb. The staple crops arc wheat barley and lucerne, but
majority of the fi>h caught is consumed locally, melons, watermelons, pumkins, beans and some
but a small proportion is dried and exported to other vegetables are also grown in increasing quan­
Basrah and elsewhere. tities. The above crops are mostly irrigated but
a small amount of wheat and barley is grown by
rainfall alone. The agriculture of Jahrah might be
considerably increased if more money were sunk
Boat Building.
in it. The most important agricultural centre is
Twenty-seven boats of an aggregate value of the island of Falaikah where wheat and barley
Rs. 4d,50*J were built in Kuwait during the year are grown with some raccess on the clayey patches
under review. Of these one had a carrying capacity also acme vegetables especially carrots which are
of 192 tons. These figures are not included in the of an exceptionally fine quality but the agricul­
Trade Report. Many smaller rowing boats were ture of the island is generally inferior to that of
also built which it is unnecessary to enumerate. Jahrah.