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'Report on the British Indian Commercial Mission to South-Eastern Persia during 1904-1905. By A H Gleadowe-Newcomen.' [‎10r] (24/176)

The record is made up of 1 volume (86 folios). It was created in 1906. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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r~
(5>
MISSION TO SOUTH-EASTERN PERSIA FOR 1904-1905.
7
i.
reasons are found in the poverty of the people, the lack of bonded ware-
nouses^ and proper communications (road, postal and telegraphic), as well as of
the safety of goods in transit, which are all important factors in the develon-
ment of trade. r
^ A considerable hindrance to trade is also caused by the balance of trade
being so unduly heavy against Persia. The exports from South Eastern
Persia into India, for instance, are too small to set off against imports from
India mto Persia. Unable to pay for imports by the sale of exports, Persian
importers have to do most of their business in cash. Their transactions are
thus limited, and they feel seriously the effects of the least disturbance in
exchange. At the same time Indian traders fail to get the benefit of the
appreciation of the rupee, for they cannot save in Bank-commission on the
return of funds, neither can they make any profit by extensive purchases
of Persian products in a cheapened market.
Another reason, and a very weighty one, is the apathy of Indian traders. If
we except the Shikarpur Mahajans and certain Bombay and Calcutta firms
Indian traders and manufacturers have yet, to all intents and purposes, to dis
cover Persia. So far, they have neglected to investigate and cater for the wants
of Persia, and especially have they neglected South-Eastern Persia, which is
contiguous to India, nor have they troubled to enquire into its productive
possibilities.
Considering the unofficial exactions, to which traders (British Indians to
a scarcely less degree than Persians) are exposed at the hands of provincial
rulers, the indolent conservativeness of Mahommedan traders, the state of
Persian Commercial law, e.g., the unsatisfactory condition in which the
creditor stands in Persia, and the new Customs Tariff, which doubles the price
of what is practically a necessity, like tea, not to mention the new Beglement
with its unpractical and in many cases, unjust clauses, I am surprised that
matters, commercially speaking, are not worse than they are.
The difficulties arising from the Customs Tariff are capable of being over
come^ whilst^ those due to the primitive condition of the law and to the unbusi
ness-like habits of the people have, I consider, been somewhat exaggerated. Let
the Indian or Anglo-Indian manufacturer set himself to study, to the mutual
advantage of India and Persia, the promising market that lies at his door. This
market is now to a great extent monopolised by Bussian manufacturers, in the
North at all events. But these manufacturers cannot live or work unsupported.
They have to pay much more for their transport to the confines of Persia, and
for their labour than Indian manufacturers, hence they can only compete'with
Indian trade so long as their losses are made good to them by Government
subsidies. How long can this go on ? Surely not for ever, especially if England
and India meet Bussia with her own weapons !
A great advantage possessed by the Bussian manufacturers is that they
cater for a population in Persia, whose wants resemble the wants of a great
part of the population of Bussia. If the Indian manufacturer does not want
to be handicapped very heavily in the struggle with the Bussian, he must set
himself to supply exactly what the Persians want. Unless he can do this, it
is of little use evolving schemes for the improvement of communicatious, for
the betterment of the condition of the Persian people, and for the creation of
political and legal safeguards for merchants.
Another point which the Indian manufacturer, catering for the Persian
market, must attend to is the marking of goods, plainly, in the Persian
character, and the printing of Catalogues and Price Lists in the language of
the country. Prices_qught_t o be in rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. at the factory An East India Company trading post. and c. i. f. Bander
Abbas and Bushire. All correspondence must also be conducted in Persian.
Advantage might be taken of the presence in India of certain Persian
youths of good family, who are being educated at the M. A.-O. College, and
of Parsee youths, who, I hear, are to be sent to Bombay, to be educated (under Sir
Dinshaw Petit’s scheme), to introduce industrial India to Persia. These young
men might he taken on tour in the winter months to the great modern
manufacturing centres, and shown everything. The benefitsarising from these
easily arranged tours would be considerable, politically as well as commercially.

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Content

Report by Arthur Hills Gleadowe-Newcomen, FRGS, FSA, President of the Commercial Mission to Persia. Submitted to the Government of India, and the Committees of the Upper India Chamber of Commerce, Cawnpore [Kānpur], and the Indian Tea Cess, Calcutta [Kolkata].

Publication statement: Calcutta: Government of India, Foreign Department, 1906.

The report is divided into the following sections:

  • I. Introduction.
  • II. A General Report.
  • III. Notes on Trading Centres, trade usages and other matters of interest.
  • IV. Imports and Exports, comprising: a) Articles of Commerce. b) Resumé.
  • V. Appendices: A. Tables of Weights, Measures and Currency; B. Statistical Tables; C. Trade routes, description and map [missing]; D. Tables showing cost and time of transport and keep of animals; E. Blank business contact form; F. Itinerary of journey of Mission.
Extent and format
1 volume (86 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a contents page at folio 5.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 86; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

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English in Latin script
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'Report on the British Indian Commercial Mission to South-Eastern Persia during 1904-1905. By A H Gleadowe-Newcomen.' [‎10r] (24/176), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/71, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100035458613.0x000019> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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