‘Report on the British Indian Commercial Mission to South-Eastern Persia during 1904-1905. By A H Gleadowe-Newcomen, F.R.G.S., F.S.A., President, representing the Upper India Chamber of Commerce and the Indian Tea Cess Committee.’ [‎34r] (72/178)

MISSION TO SOUTH-EASTERN PERSIA FOR 19044905.
55
The cultivable area would be increased tenfold by improved irrigation.
TVith incieased cultivation would come an increose of population, and an
increased population would result in an increase of trade.
. -t^°od"grains, cotton, indigo and wool could all be raised with advantage,
whilst large quantities of gum tragacanth are waiting to be harvested from
the hills, and a very considerable export trade would grow up. Eubdar
abounds in uch glass lands that might easily be turned to good account.
Oracle.—'\\\<z trade of these regions is at present almost entirely in the
hands of a few Hindus, who have their head-quarters in Kerman in summer
and Bander Abbas in winter, and branches in Dasari and Gazala. These
men get^ most of their stocks through Kerman, though an occasional
caravan is brougnt up direct from Bander Abbas. They have, according to
report, been doing a very flourishing business, alike as legitimate traders and
as money-lenders. Having no competitors, their- prices and their rates of
interest have been much higher than they ought to have been, whilst their
business methods have doubtless not been commendable. They have incurred
t e enmity of the chief Khan in Jiruft, a Kermani, and he has succeeded in
making it impossible lor them to continue to trade or live in the valley. On
the advice of the British Consul, these banias are selling up their land and
shops and are moving; they will go probably to Bam.
. According to the figures that I was able to get from these men, they did
an important business, in Jiruft and Budbar, of (cost price figures) R3,52,200.
Or the total, cotton goods represented one lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , tea a quarter of a lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , sugar
about a lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees and three quarters, woollen goods, matches, candles, oil and
spices making up the rest. The chief exports were food-grains, wool, (1,200
kharvars produced, of which a third is sent to the port) and cotton (100 kharvars
produced, of which half is sent to Bander Abbas).
Ye zn—
Yezd has been known for centuries as a trading centre. Marco Polo
mentions the place in connection with its manufactures and transit trade and
many early European travellers speak of the aptitude of its inhabitants for
commerce.
Yezd attained the zenith of its commercial prosperity a quarter of a
century ago, but within the last four years it has declined considerably in
importance. J
. j s to-day a town of about 60,000 inhabitants, of whom 8,000—the most
industrious and progressive-are Parsees. There used at one time to be a
colony of Hindu traders at Yezd, but the last of these left the town six vears
ago, joiumg the colony located in Kerman. The exodus of the Hindus was
due, I was informed by a Hindu in Bnfsinjan, to the impossibility the Shikar-
puns found m collecting outstandings, and to the bitter hostility shown them
by the Mullahs. Had there beeu a British Consulate at Yezd, it is possible
that this might not have occurred.
The decline in the wealth and importance of Yezd is due to a variety of
causes. The chief of these are—The opening up of the Batoum route and ‘the
building of the A shkabad Railway by the Russians, the opening by ourselves of
the Quetfa-Nushki trade route, and the imposition of the new intricate
Customs tariff, together with the increased honesty and activity of the Customs
Officials in the service of the Persian and Russian Governments at the frontiers.
i. a C0I f e T uence ’ g 0 °ds (teca and piece-goods chiefly) that once changed
hands m the bazars of Yezd, and were from there distributed over North
Persia, and taken into Asiatic Russia, now enter the northern parts of Persia
and the Trans-Caspian provinces of Russia via Patoum, whilst caravans brino 1
tea and piece-goods into Khorasan and Seistan from Quetta.
An enormous trade in smuggled tea used, at one time, to be carried on
with Russia, across the long Khorasan border. This has now almost dis
appeared, and the trade of Yezd, where the smugglers used to lay in their
stocks, and make arrangements for. getting the goods across the border, has
suffered m consequence*