'Administration Reports 1905-1910' [‎107r] (218/616)

AND THE MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOR THE YEAR 1907-1908. 23
ammunition besides some of the Sowars' private property being carried off.
These events led Mr. Graharne to cut short his tour and return to Shiraz.
No fluctuations of special importance were noted during the year. The Commerce.
imports are stated to have been about
Import8 ' the average during the summer months
and below during the winter although British piecegoods (the import of
which during the last quarter of 1907 is estimated, at 5,000 bales) maintained
their normal position. It may be noted that the import of Eussian piecegoods
(chiefly cotton prints) during the same quarter is estimated at no more than
300 bales.
It is generally admitted to have been a bad year for exports, general
insecurity combining with low prices in
Expo^ts ■ the foreign markets to .reduce sales. The
only exception to the uniformly gloomy character of the reports occurs in
the case of the export of opium during the last quarter of the year, which is
stated to have been somewhat above the average of recent years, the selling
price in Shiraz ranging from tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. 12 to tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. 13 per Shiraz maund. In
connection with non-British trade it may be noted that Herr Burger
(mentioned in Mr. Grahame's note for 1907) appointed Mr. Hai Malcolm,
an Armenian under British protection, to push the sale of aniline dyes, while
a competitor appeared in December 1907 in the person of Haji Mirza Husein,
the French Consular Agent, who was appointed local representative of the
Hoechster Farbwerke. A large proportion of the former firm's first consign
ment is reported to have been refused by consignees as not up to sample and
the trade in this article appears to have received a set back on this account.
Herr Kurt Jung, "Attache Commercial de I'Bmpire Allemande," arrived
at Shiraz from Bushire on February 22nd
visit of Herr ung. rema i ne d un til the 28th. He visited
the principal firms and Persian merchants, but it is noteworthy that in
conversation with the Acting Karguzar he displayed complete ignorance of
the fact that as above noted two firms of German exporters have now agents in
Sliraz for the sale of aniline dy< s. His purchases were apparently confined to
saddle bags and carpets. In conversation with Mr. Roevsr, a partner in the
only firm of Germans resident in Sliiraz, he expressed his concurrence in the
latter's pessimistic estimate of the commercial situation in Fars, and lamented
that he should be called on to write in an optimistic vein on this subject. In
fact his visit appears to have little significance except as evidence of the
attention now being paid by the German Government to Persian commerce.
The grain, crops in the immediate vicinity of Shiraz appear to have been Agriculture,
good, but the outlying districts suffered from rust and Qashgais, while in the
more low-lying portions of the province the crop was an almost complete
failure owing to lack of rain. The opium crop was injured by hail in April,
jjitlci and was below the average.
In view of the almost complete impotence of the Provincial authorities Public security.
If ^ on the outlying parts of the Province, it is perhaps more surprising that the
roads should have been open at all, than that a continual series of road
: ftf robberies should have been reported throughout the year.
On the Bushire road, the principal causes of trouble were the state of
*0 chaos to which the town of Kazeroon was reduced by intestine feuds and the
absence of all authority, and the standing quarrel between Hyder Khan of
Kamarij and Nur Muhammad Khan of Daliki, each of whom had his candidate
for the post of Kadkhuda of Konartakhteh, a village situated on the road
itself. The nominal Deputy Governor of Kazeroon was Haji Zergham-ush-
Sharieh, son of the Imam Juma of Shiraz, who owns extensive properties in
that, part of the province, but such authority as existed was in the hands of
jl^ 1 Khwaja Ibrahim, one of the notables of the town, who used his powers for the
. jC 1 ■extermination of his numerous private enemies. This naturally led to frequent
fighting in and around the town.
j The feud between Kamarij and DaliH was quiescent during 1907, but in
o# January 1908 a miniature civil war broke out, the plain of Konartakhteh