Page 47 - 4 Persian Trade rep KUWAIT 2_Neat

3
The British India Steam Navigation Company supply a limited but increasing quantity of vegetable*
maintain a weekly service from India, and a fort- and melons. The chief agricultural centre in the
nightly service to India. principality is Jahrah. The staple crops are wheat,
Steamers owned or chartered by (1) The Eastern barley and lucerne, but melons, water melons.
Steam Navigation Company. Limited, (2) Ellcrnun pumpkins, beans, and some other vegetables are also
sod Buckmill Steam Ship Company, Limited and grown. There are s«'inc 2,5W date trees. The
(3) The Ilansa Steam Ship Company. Limited, above crops are mostly irrigated, but a small amount
also called as inducement offered. of wheat and barley is grown by rainfall alone. The
TJa.* rate of freight bv the British India Steam agriculture of Jahrah might be considerably increased
Na -ration Company’s steamers was £1-13-1 per ton if more money were sunk in it.
on wool and dry fish, £1-10-0 per ton on dates and The next more important agricultural centre i>
£1 per ton on general cargo to Bombay and Karachi the island of FailakaU where wheat and barley arc
throughout the year. grown with some success on the clayey patches, also
The average rate of freight by the other lines was lucerne, melons and some vegetables, especially
£1 per ton from Bombay and Karachi, and 18s. 87. carrots, which are of an exceptionally fine quality,
per ton on dates to India. but the agriculture of the island is generally inferior
to that of Jahrah.
Sea Fisheries. RainfalL
The only truly local produce of Kuwait is that
yielded by the harbour fisheries, which are a valu The total rainfall during the year was 4-95* and
able asset. Besides float-ami-weight nets and lines* was distributed as follows:—
traps, or tidal weirs, constructed of reed hurdles* Inches.
are also employed ; the fish enter them with the April, 1926 . •34
.May. 1926 .
•19
flowing tide and are left behind at the ebb. The November, 1920 . 3-70
majority of the fish caught is consumed locally, but a December, 1926
small proportion is dried and exported to Basrah January, 1927 •24
and elsewhere. February, 1927 •31
March, 1927 •13
Boat Building. Public Health.
Thirty three boats of an aggregate value of £1,380
were built during th- year. Of These one had a Tin* health of the town was good on the win*;**,
currying capacity of about 8u tons, and the rest were hut tuberculosis continued to take its usual toil.
•ill quite small. These figures ait* not included in All classes suffered, but p.mit-’.daily the upper and
the trade tables. middle classes. Next in importance was small pox
which was responsible for a very large proportU :i
Labour. of the town’s high infant mortality. 3 he chief title r
The price of labour remained nearly same as for diseases were those of the eyes, curs and skin and ti.:
the preceding year. An unskilled labourer earned heavy floods in ‘Iraq were the cause of more malaria
from Is. 47. to 2s.; a carpenter from 5s. 4d. to $*.; than usual.
mason from 5s. 4*7. to Hi#. 8*/. and a boat builder
from 4s. to 10s. 87. a day. Communications-
The Kuwait-’Iraq Motor Transport Company
Minerals. continued to function: and maintained the read in
The only mineral pn-Iuct worked is gypsum mor exceli-nt condition, except for a period in the spring
tar, which is manufactured by the simple process of when floods rendered a detour necessary nineie-n
firing rubbish in broad shallow excavations. There miles -short of Zubair.
is a large gypsiferous tract on the outskirts of The fare is 1 Is. a seat by c »r and 7«. by vanette.
Kuwait town, and it is found in several other parts
of the principality. Exchange.
Domestic Animals.
r.r
The Tpost valuable domestic animals are camels, Month?. Maria ivr Prr Pru:,*l
of which there are large numbers, sheep, goats ami Tier- -a S- vt.-clsn. Tuii&n.
IVilri*
donkeys, of the latter many of a large white breed,
originally from Hasa, are found in the town. These
are sometimes over thirteen hands in height, and a t .. 4. £ •. 4. £ «. i
•* 14 o
good one will fetch over £45. There are also some aiyStS0 TI 2 1 0 IT 10 4U 15 10
0 15 9
V IT S
horses and a few homed cattle. iu£t. im* 111 10 •> U 1 IT 6 0 15 10
July. iv*-« 1U 2 4 it IT 6 <• 15 3
9 IT r,
O IT b
o 15 a
Ausurt. 1926 .
Agriculture, s*jt«a.t«v.iaSA 9 IS 2 0 IT # 0 15 9
9 16# 0 IT 10 0 15 10
Neither Kuwait nor its environs can boast of any Xf.vcmiWiiosa Ml i ft 1* 0 V 15 11
agricultural resources. There are no date plants- 1 « 19 I emu 0 15 II
U 15 10
S 15 «
c IT 11
tions of any value, no fields, and not many kitchen F^narf.iw* . *» ’*. *tl «t IS 1 0 14 I
o n; j
c 14 2
*1 1- u
gardens. The villages to the south-east of Kuwait Marili. 1*.*27