‘File 29/18-A TEA FOR THE TRUCIAL COAST’ [‎71r] (141/392)

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the whole Trucial coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. for that period# All this frustrated \
tea which he has deliberately purchased will be debitea to the
Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. quota and may well result in the cancellation of
the regular quotas of other merchants who do not possess
frustrated tea. - -If this should happen they will be debarred from
from legitimate trade in tea and the market as a whole will,in
any case be flooded with comparatively expensive frustrated tea
(tea for^local consumption is controlled at w#l/ 8 /- per lb and
for barter Ks#3/- per lb has been fixed).
9 . j would draw your attention to the invoice he has
produced for one consignment of tea amounting to 1413 chests
containing 113970 lbs of tea. I am inclined to doubt the itemss-
(a) te. 28492- 8-0 On account of godo.n rent Insurance eh rges
from 7/9/42 to 31/4/45.
(b) ” 14246- 4.0 On account of renewal of quotas at Calcutta
@ as. 2 /- per lb purchased against surrender
of old quotas.
(c) " 19660-15-0 On account of insurance premium.
Total " 62399.11.0
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1 q. He has admitted before me that he purchased die tea in
April 1945 from Lessrs. G*A» Handerian Ltd. and I therefore fail
to see why he should pay all the insurance and godown charges
since 1942 as separate items. Expenses on these accounts would
normally be included in the purchase price of the tea. I also
fail to understand why he stould have to pay hs. 14,246/4/- for
renewing the quotas and I further doubt very much if he would
cover the consignment by insurance for die journey to Dubai to
the extent of paying ;s.l966o/15/— as premium. In other words,
I am of the opinion that the invoice has been concocted with a
view to obtaining more profit, when he represented his case befoi
me l clearly explained bo him my views on ik his action in
deliberately purchasing this large amount of frustrated tea and
also expressed my doubts as to the genuineness of his invoice.
He protested that when he purchased the tea he did not know that
it would be debited to the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. quota and that he was
under the impression that it would not oe subject ac any control
when it reached Dubai. I told him that I was not prepared to
accept his explanation and uhat personally I did not consiaer
bha/he was entitled to any relief but I left the matter open by
saying bhat I would give it my further consideration.
11 . I calculated that by disposing of this consignment of
tea under the existing controlled ratest&}’43q % at 1 / 8 /- per
lb and 56a % at 3/- per lb he would soand to lose about hs.38,000/-
assuming of course that the invoice was correct. If however,
as I suspect, ihe three items referred to above are fictitious,
then he can still a profit of sorae hs.X4,000/-* After
giving Hie matter careful thought I came to the conclusion that,,
while personally I considered Lhat he should be heavily
penalised for what he had done, dhere was officially no actual
proof thac he'had not acted- In good faith^ although there was goc
good reason to suppose that he had nob done so. I therefore
decided that in the interest of trade it would be advisable to
afford him some relief and I informed him that I was considering
ways ana means which would, as far as possible, enable him to
dispose of his tea without incurring excessive loss, but without
raising ohe present controlled rates.
12. I decided against raising the price'of tea for local
consumption for obvious reasons. I decided against raising the
barter xyxxHM pdce because, apart from upsetting the barter system
it vould not be possible for kustafa bin Abdul Latif to make good
his losses in a short time. Bearing in mind that other
merchants would also be taking advantage of any rise in the
barber price, it would take him several months to dispose of
suffleant tea to cover his losses, assuming of course that
prices in Persia were sufficently high bo permit of che barter
price being raised, prices in Persia however appear to be
fluctuating rapidly and if the barter price is raised for one
month/