Page 365 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

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originally to have met Mis Excellency at Bandar Abbas, and in view of subse­
quent events, it is to be regretted that this part of the programme was departed
from at the instance of the Persian Government. Courtesies were exchanged
between the Salar-i-Moazzam and Lord Curzon. His Excellency also received
an address from the Indian traders, his reply to which is printer below. Lord
Curzon's speech pictures vividly the intimate connection that has always existed
from the most ancient times between this coast of Iran and India and our large
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long-vested commercial interests on the Gulf:—
" Gentlemen, in thanking you for your address. let me express my pleasure at meeting
here a community of British Indian subjects of His Majesty the King Emperor enjoying
the hospitality of a foreign and friendly land, and engaged in a trade which is equally
beneficial to this country and to yourselves. I am glad that Persia returns the compliment
by sending a large number of her own gifted and intelligent subjects to trade in the ports of
British India; for these relations arc merely the continuance in modern times of a connec­
tion between Iran and India that has lasted for centuries, and that is based not merely
upon geographical proximity, but upon original affinities of civilisation, language, and race.
Bandar Abbas, both under its present name and under its former title of Gombrun, has
also been intimately bound up with the history of British mercantile enterprise in Persia
and the Persian Gulf, and I suppose that there is hardly a scene in the world that has
witnessed more struggles for commercial supremacy, or has experienced more startling
vicissitudes of political fortune, than the waters and islands that we can sec from this very
spot.
Should anyone enquire why the Viceroy of India, while in the discharge of the duties
of his office, should visit this place, the answer may be found in . the facts which I have
already mentioned, namely, in the uninterrupted historical connection which has existed
between this locality and India for hundreds of years, and in the residence here of a flourish­
ing colony of British Indian traders and trade. But the explanation goes much further than
that, both in its local and in its general application ; for here we are at the mouth of a sea
which has been ono of the main and most beneficent areas of British exertion in the con­
tinent of Asia. The great maritime highway of the Persian Gulf has never failed to attract
those nations who held, or aspired to hold, the ports of India; and having embarked upon
the Indian enterprise in which they ultimately outdistanced all other competitors, it fell
naturally to the British to pursue their successful activity in this direction, and thus gradu­
ally to acquire an ascendancy of trade and interest in the Persian Gulf which has never
wavered until the present day, and which has been so far from selfish in its operation that
it has brought wealth and security to the States and communities that are to be found upon
these shores, has smoothed the path of every ship that navigates these waters and has won
for us the friendship and gratitude of the principal Governments, such as that of His
Majesty the Shah, with whom we have been brought in contact.
The ascendancy of which I have spoken is demonstrated by the fact that out of a total
value of trade in the Gulf—including under that designation the ports on the Arab as well
as on the Persian coast, and embracing Mohammara in the latter, but not including Basra—
amounting to nearly 6$ millions sterling in the last recorded year, 1901, close upou 5
millions of which was external trade, that is, trade with ports outside the Gulf, the British
percentage of this external trade was 77, aud the corresponding percentage of British
steamers loaving and entering the Gulf ports was 97. If we restrict our observations to the
Persian ports alone, we find that the total volume of trade in 1901 was close upon 41
millions sterling, of which £ 4,232,006 was external, and that of the latter the British propor­
tion was 66 per cent., and of the shipping by which it was carried 97 per cent. These
figures show that, even in the much more acute competition that now prevails, the commer­
cial superiority so long enjoyed by Great Britain in these seas still exists, if not unchal­
lenged, at least unimpaired. On the other hand there are circumstances in the trade and
position of Bunder Abbas which shew that the keenest efforts will be required to retain
for this port the advantages which it has hitherto enjoyed.
You have called attention .to other symptoms of Indian interest in Bundar Abbas. My
Government is represented here by an officer, appointed for the first time since I came to
India, to safeguard the interests of British Indian trade in this place, and I am glad to learn
from you that his arrival has been followed by an extension in certain aspects of your
business, and that you have already derived benefit from his labours. It is to be remem­
bered that Bunder Abbas though it has been shorn of much of its ancient fame, is the
starting point from which almost immemorial caravan routes penetrate far into the interior,
carrying what are for the most part British and Indian goods to the great towns of Central
Persia on the north and west, and to the bazaars of Khorasan, Afghanistan, and Central
Asia on the north-east and east. This is a very important outpost, therefore, of Indian
trade.
Again, let it be remembered that India is no remote country which is here busying
itself at a great distance from its base. On the contrary, we are the nearest neighbours
of Persia along her entire eastern frontier, firstly in the territories of Baluchistan, and

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