Page 227 - 1 Persian Trade rep Bahrain 1_Neat

REPORT

ON TI1E
BAHRAIN ISLANDS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 3 1st MARCH 1913.
tbade of the
, , U'lan X/marki.—The general condi- and the previous year may be of interest.
JlU't Ufe at Bahrain and the physical and
'"•Veil peculiarities of the Islands, the nature of IMPOETS.
? 4-ji population, etc., were very fully dealt
^ in Part l of last year's Kcprt (No. 5052 General Totil.
Scries 1311-12, Persian Gulf; q. v.) and Yearn. ! Hc-rct- Specie. Pearls. Import*.
.
Qtncccisary to repeat these particulars. ' asdi.-.e. 1
lr my be noted that the Local Customs £ £ £ £
Vjrtment doe-s not keep accurate statistics,
• fluently tbes* have to be prepared from steam- 1911-12 . 719328 417,731 2,0Go,9i9
V luanifests and other sources. They are 1912-13 ., C39.327 C00.000 1.0X/K9 2.239,527
---fore incomplete, especially, as regards exports
r ,Vtf mainland which all go^ by native boat per cent, per cent p«.r cvnt. per cent
li rts are mad* to get statistics of traffic by Increase or Decrease
vj\e craft, but as a general rile only those on previous j«.ar ▼ 303 +m j +6 -4
from India carry manifests, so it is not ’I ”17'1 i
• isiftf to compile accurate figures. EXPORTS.
£ £ £ £
F.:tVr, the statistic? regarding movements of
••jl? and tR-cie are very incomplete, as numbers 1911-12 235»3 34 58G 1.W1C67 2.285.15*;
1 -j&l pearl merchants travel to and fro from
j -lay and carry large quantities of pearls in 1912-13 216^.<1 43.000 : 2.033.353 2,295.136
>-L* luggage or on their persons, and large quan-
: -rs of specie ar? transferred in the same way. per cent per cent percent per cent
\:r lakhs of Rupees also are sent to Bahrain Percentage of Increase
~ j year in the form of Indian currency notes or Decrease on previ­
:Hi. 1,000 or 50 J by Registered Post. It is of ous yi3x . —17 : +19-5 414 4- -4
I
impossible to obtain statistics of all these
An examination of the above statement shows
that the imjvits and exports of general mer-
these few prefatory observations I now . ... , , , _. . ,
' -^Itoan examination of the Trade Statistics ohandite ha\e decreased bv /i 1 per e-cat- and 17
:ibc year. Per cent., respectively. The reasons for this
decrease are not obvious, as the year 1911-12 was
Rcmar.lt on trade in 1012-13.—As an exceptionally prosperous one, and the Pearling
-4-.d out in last ytar*6 report the total figures of season of the year under review was a good one.
-vv sttistics represent three very distinct types Smuggling into Persia does not appear to have
^-..-mws, nz., the movement of pearls, of specie been quite so brisk during the year, but whether
"c Sacral merchandise. that is one of the causes of the reduced imports
first named, of course,dominate the whole ■'°‘o Bahrain or merely .resolt is ditEoult to deter-
the second and third depend almost ™n.e' T.L're.,s n0 dt,ult there were Urge
rpm the condition of the pearl trade. Were ?“*“ of f°d «S?r, _ the two pnncipal
• L‘r of pearls raddenly to cease, or even be ,mPorts.0Q ,13nd at thc ^nn.ng of the year ; this
redoeed for some years, the vast “aF *> »«« extent for the f.U in
- the urban popuiation of Bahrain would “"I10"8-
-; (i the country, and the movements Exports from Bahrain are directly dependent
* lai-T*1*6 and merchandise would be reduced upon imports, because the export trade of nearly
’■il^nfIUtCant ^&urei 38 Hie majority of those all articles except pearls is merely the distribution
•-.'fr-T S °* ^brain who are not directly or of articles just imported into Bahrain. These are
•^COninpCtcd w‘th tbe pearl trade are poor sent by legitimate trade to Katar and Katif and
T whose wants are few. the coast of the Hassa Province of Arabia, and, in
learlino- imo n , , the case of goods on which there is a heavy tariff
. * * XeTffTV* 6 wW? in P*™a, by smuggling to that country. Inthe
: fairly aonA ,n? to the average and pre8ent circumstances it is unnecessary to go in
3

. ^ brief table • ,, . . As regards the import and export of pearls
V4tl «nder all »kW,n? the total Imports and the figures for this year show an increase of 10 1
^ 3 p D tbxoe heads for the year 1912-13 per cent., and 1*4 per cent respectively.