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Reports and Correspondence Relating to Persia, Including Trade and Trade Routes in Persia [‎4v] (8/252)

The record is made up of 1 file (124 folios). It was created in 22 Nov 1900-20 Apr 1905. 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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REPORT ON TRADE OF PERSIA.
The most cultivated, populous, and prosperous provinces o( Persia in
t/ToTenSe Knd
t0 WelonVtresUblSed ,aw and order in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , giving our
tradT secure access to Bunder Abbas and Bushire, f'f’ ° t han
! Ue b Z z^nd 31 ^Britfsh ^enterprisef llsoesTablLhed a^teamer service to Bagdad.
Len!n e another trade route 5 to Hamadan. The great impetus g.ven to our
trade b g y these measures was already evident some i° or'5 years ago, »
further facilities for reaching ? ew - or R les ? en . in S °! h C e °w f Se that
existini? markets have not arisen. But it is during the last decade tnat
measures tending to increase Russian trade with Persia have produce
^^The conquest of Transcaspia enabled the Persian province of Khorassan to
devote itself in security to the agricultural development of its fertile soil, an
the opening of the Transcaspian railway provided an outlet for these products,
which could not afford the long and costly transport to the Gulf.
Meantime the manufacturing centres of Russia—formerly more distant in
time and cost of transport, through the vast extent of Russia itself, from Persian
markets than we were—have been brought gradually nearer by improved
steamer and rail communications. Water-borne transport by the V olga and
Caspian has long existed, but has been accelerated and cheapened It is
available however for the summer months only. Petrovsk and Baku now
afford transport by rail the whole year round at freights only slightly higher
than by the Volga route. _
The construction of the Batoum-Baku Railway and the Akstafa-Julfa
road opened to Odessa and Black Sea ports a trade route to Azerbaijan superior
in time and cost of transport to the Trebizond route, from which European
merchandise for Persia was quickly diverted to it; but this door was soon
barred to imports not of Russian origin.* The superiority of th,s route
increases as the railway from Tiflis, now open to Envan, extends to the
frontier at Julfa, which it is expected to reach within two years.
All these measures of improved communication have been justified bv
the development of the Russian territories w'hich they have penetrated and
Kpnpfilpd hut thev have equally served to facilitate both import and export
trade with Persia.
The merchandise which can be most quickly supplied to a depleted
market reaps the best profit. There is also a saving of interest and a more
rapid turn-over of capital when goods take a shorter time m transit. The
improvement in communications with Russia has materially reduced the time
occupied in transport, and Russian merchandise now arrives in the markets
of northern Persia perhaps three months or less from date of order, whilst our
goods can seldom reach the same destinations within five or even six months
of order.
Russia possesses in the Armenian trader a suitable agent to press trade in
the somewhat limited markets of Persia. He is a keen trader, living in the
fashion of the country at small expense, and speaking and writing the language
of both the Russian Armenian and of the Persian with whom he deals.
For years past Russia has opposed a formidable Customs tariff to the
import of many foreign commodities, but Persia has been protected against
this tariff by the five per cent, ad valorem duties of the Turkomanchai treaty,
and some of her products will continue to be protected under the existing
Russo-Persian Customs Convention. It is almost surprising that Persian
exports to Russia have not increased in greater measure. With a similar
advantage we might have competed at Moscow via Bushire and Enzelp in
those red ground prints now being driven out of Teheran by the Russian
article. The most important exports to Russia are fruits, cotton and rice,
representing a million sterling annually.
* Exp orts to Europe continue to benefit, perhaps at the expense of imports, which have to bear the cost of
returning unlreighted caravans to Trebizond.

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Content

The file contains reports and correspondence relating to Persia [Iran], including reports on trade and trade routes in Persia.

It includes:

  • A copy of the ‘Report Received from Mr H.W. Maclean, the Special Commissioner Appointed by the Commercial Intelligence Committee of the Board of Trade, on the Conditions and Prospects of British Trade in Persia.’
  • A copy of a letter from Arthur Henry Hardinge, HM Minister at Tehran, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Marquess of Lansdowne (Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice), enclosing an annual report prepared by Evelyn Grant Duff, Secretary of Legation, Tehran, on events in Persia during the year 1904
  • Copies of the reports ‘Reconnaissance from Kondi on the Seistan Trade Route via Mashkhel-Hamun and Panjgur…’ and ‘Reconnaissance and Estimate for a Railway from Nushki to the Helmand and thence to the Persian frontier at Bund-i-Seistan’
  • Copies of printed despatches from the Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, forwarding copies of the weekly Diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai (for the weeks ending 16 February, 8 March, 24 March, 31 March, and 24 October 1901, and 31 March and 8 April 1902), and a copy of the report ‘Trade Returns of the Quetta-Seistan Trade Route, for the year 1900-1901.’ by Captain Frank Cooke Webb-Ware, Political Assistant, Chagai
  • Printed copies of the Diary of Captain Robert Arthur Edward Benn, HM Vice-Consul for Seistan and Kain (for the period ending 31 March, 11 April, 30 April, 15 May, 17 June, and 15 September 1901).
Extent and format
1 file (124 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in no apparent order within the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 126; 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.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Reports and Correspondence Relating to Persia, Including Trade and Trade Routes in Persia [‎4v] (8/252), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/357, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100061375796.0x000009> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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