‘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.’ [‎38v] (81/178)

64 REPORT ON THE BRITISH INDIAN COMMERCIAL
substantial grievances. This was evidenced by the fact that instructions were
rent dovn ficm Tehran to the Director-General, instructing him to confer with
the mercantile community, with a view to seeing what were the exact require-
ments of the port, and what, in the opinion of the merchants, and Consuls,
could be done to improre matters, the interests of the State and of the Customs
being, at the same time, safeguarded.
Next to the great, though remediable, natural difficulties of the port itself
the gieatest difficulty that the merchants of Bushire have to contend against is
the way in which the Customs administration have confused the duties and
person of the Homal-bctshi, or Chief Porter, and the Landing Contractor.
Some time aero a movement was started for the formation of a Transport
and Land in sr Company in Bushire. This company was to land goods, pass
them through the Customs, and take and give delivery.
It was also proposed to establish a wheeled transport service to the foot of
the kotnls, with an organised and systematic pack transport service over the
passes into Shiraz.
In it were concerned British, Persian, Indian, German and Dussian
traders. The project, which promised to be successful, fell through, because the
Customs administration put absolutely insuperable difficulties in its way, being
evidently of the opinion that it was a smuggling organisation.
The Customs administration refuse to permit any firm or agent to employ
a private landing contractor or company, unless goods are landed in decided
boats, with sealed hatches, every package being also sealed, and a fee paid,
of course, for each seal or stamp.
As work under such conditions would have been impossible, the merchants
were forced to abandon their scheme, and to accept the Hamal-bashi as their
Landing Contractor.
Consignees would find nothing objectionable in this arrangement, if only
the official Landing Contractor would do his work satisfactorily, taking deli
very of cargo in a proper and expeditious manner from ship, and bringing h to
the shore at the Customs wffiarf, wTiere only, strange to say, his responsibility
for cargo, and that of the Customs for loss or damage, seems to begin.
The Ramal-bashi is, however, a man of straw. He has not capital enough
to buy boats of his own to do the work with, and he is not in a position to
command hired boats belonging to others whenever wanted.
The difficulties under which merchants, in consequence, labour in this port,
where the inner anchorage is three miles, and the outer anchorage from five to
seven miles, from the Customs wharf, may be estimated from the fact that in
the grain season there are often not more than five or six boats to be found in
the port, the others being busily engaged in carrying cargo along the coast, and
consequently not available for use as lighters.
In Bushire, as at Bander Abbas, in cases of loss or damage, it is difficult,
almost impossible, to get any redress or recover money from either the Custom
House, or the Hamal-bashi. After the approved Persian fashion, each shifts
the blame to the shoulders of the other. This, despite the fact that the Customs
Department is supposed, in the person of the Eawial’bashi, its servant, to sign
for cargo at the ship, land and sort it for examination, and deliver goods,
when cleared, at merchants’ godowns, according to a fixed tariff laid down by
the Customs authorities.
The Customs wharf and premises are cramped and inconvenient. They
allow neither of efficient working, nor efficient storage. Of a consequence,
damage, during handling and from exposure to sun and rain, is of frequent
occurrence. Extensions have been made, but more are required. The Customs
staff is also undermanned, particularly for the working of so minute and compli
cated a tariff as that now in force. A steam-launch is urgently needed to
convey Customs Officials to and from steamers in the otnng, as so much time is
now lost by using clumsy native boats, which are dependant on wind and tide.
Whilst speaking of the difficulties of the port of Bushire, and the short
comings of the Customs, it will not do to forget that the shipping companies
show themselves far from accommodating in their dealings with their clients,