File 930/1912 'Mohammerah - Khoremabad Railway' [‎101v] (209/396)

and the remoter districts more accessible for sojourn and residence of foreign
subjects in Northern than in Southern Persia, and that this is attributable, m
Dart to continued diplomatic pressure and consular energy,
P i do not think that these measures taken by the Russian Government
have all been equally successful in giving a permanent advantage to Russian
commerce in Persia, but on the whole they have sufficed to drive many
British commodities out of those markets of Northern Persia lying under the
?n7dow of the great Elburz, range, and have enabled Russian commodities
to compete with ours in Hamadan, Ispahan, and Yezd, commercial centres
equaTy accessible from the Caspian and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Our commerce
has not yet been seriously crippled, but if the Russian Government continue
unopposed, this energetic commercial policy m Persia our traders wil
gradually be beaten oSt of the central markets also, and Russian commercial
SUP o“ a 7o™ e unaid P ef c^n hardly oppose a combined front to this
organised Russian aggression, for the traders engaged m that commerce, and
the home manufacturers with whom they deal, are all competing with each
other, as well as with the foreign rival, and few of them have a vital interest
in Persian trade. Indeed, it appears to me that the determination evmc
by the Russian State to aid Russian commerce with _ Persia has produced a
distinct moral effect on foreign enterprises, m that it has been equally an
incentive to enterprise on the part of the private Russian trader and a
deterrent to enterprise (especially where large outlay of capital is involved)
on the part of British traders; for the former feel tneir Government to be
behind them, and the latter have to apprehend, not only the competition ot
Russian traders, whose manufacturing and trading resources they can
gauge, but also the interposition of the Russian Government to counteract,
for political purposes, any success attending their efforts to extend trade
detrimental to Russian influence in Persia. Commercial influence is a useful
political weapon, and the extension, or decline, of trade with Persia has a
deeper interest to the Russian and the British Empires than the simple gam
or loss of profitable markets. The Russian Government^ has intervened m
Russian trade with Persia to confer benefits, which the conflicting and
limited interest of private traders could not combine to achieve. British
commercial enterprise, in certain respects, awaits the indication, and must
follow the lead, of the British Government, which is alone able to oppose the
Russian Government in efforts directed, through commerce, towards political
ends. _ .
Our contribution to trade interests in Persia at present consists m some
small aid to trade routes in the Karun and Seistan regions, and that part
of our consular service which might be expected to disappear along with
our trade. A simple commercial trader seldom hesitates to venture one
year’s income of a sound business to safeguard future dividends. I make
little doubt that the amount of imperial and local taxation for one year, m
the British Empire, on the capital and labour representing an annual trade
of three millions, must exceed the capitalised value of the contribution above
mentioned.
The most pressing cry of our traders is for quicker and cheaper transport
of commodities between the frontier and inland markets in Persia than at
present exists.
I think it essential to consider only routes based on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and
India, for onr trade through Trebizoud is not now of first importance. The
markets open to that route have been gradually limited to Tabriz and the
southern parts of Azerbaijan, not from Russian competition only, but also
from our own competition by the superior Gulf routes. Moreover, trade by
the Trebizond route is largely conducted through Constantinople, as an
intermediate market, and the Persian traders dealing there are brought more
in contact with rival commodities of other nations than those dealing in
Bagdad, Bombay, and Manchester by the southern routes. Merchandise
consigned to Trebizond is carried by continental steamers, while nearly all
merchandise (except Russian) consigned to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. pays freight to
British shipping.