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Reports and Correspondence Relating to Persia, Including Trade and Trade Routes in Persia [‎6r] (11/252)

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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GENERAL REPORT ON BRITISH TRADE AND ENTERPRISE.
7
expected to make greater progress. But these southern provinces have not
the advantage of protected markets in which to sell their produce at artificial
prices.
Our imports into Khorassan were formerly destined in part for Trans-
caspia, to which they entered until a few years ago at an ad valorem duty of
sj per cent. Some of our cotton tissues and tea found a market there which
is now cut off. A special concession is still made to Transcaspia in respect of
green tea, but in such a manner as to divert this transit trade from Bunder
Abbas and Khorassan to Batoum.
I have endeavoured to trace, in the foregoing remarks, the principal causes
which have affected the foreign trade of Persia in recent years, and the results
arising from them. The agricultural development of Northern Persia, due to
f reater facilities in reaching Russian and other markets and to protection of
ersian products in Russian markets, has certainly increased the wealth of
these provinces, and therefore their capacity to purchase commodities.
Russia has no doubt obtained the greatest part of this increased import trade,
but if we eliminate one commodity, sugar, her relative progress in import
trade will appear much less striking, and be found to have consisted in an in
crease of manufactured articles, principally cotton tissues, glassware, pottery,
iron, ironmongery, etc.
No improvement in communications would have sufficed to increase Russian
exports of manufactured goods to Persia unless she had been able to supply
these articles. It has been constantly pointed out to me that Russia’s manu
facturing skill has made great progress. Her common pottery now competes
not only in price but in appearance and quality with other imports. Her
common glassware competes on equal or superior terms *with Bohemian and
French wares of the same class. Her metalwork—lamps, candlesticks,
enamelled-ironware—is stated to be much better in quality and finish at a given
price than formerly. It is of course in cotton prints that her competition is
most felt by us. Our tissues have to some extent been driven out of the
northern provinces, and the fact that our imports do not show a marked
decrease must be attributed to the increased consumption in other parts of
the country compensating for markets lost further north.
I have formed the conclusion that Russian prints have not established a
distinct ascendancy beyond such markets at Tabriz, Kazvin, Teheran, and
Meshed. It may be questioned whether the trade really affords a sufficient
margin of profit between the cost of production and transport and the price
paid by the consumer; but without doubt it has been pressed most vigorously,
and competent authorities, both Russian and British, have expressed an opinion
that it has been pressed to excess, and that stocks have accumulated beyond
the needs of the market.
A Russian firm have been established in Ispahan for some two years past.
They may or may not be making present sacrifices in order to establish this
business in general cotton prints and tissues, but should they be able to
establish a business dependent on ordinary mercantile profits, then there is no
reason why Russian manufacturers should not be able to compete with
Manchester in all parts of Persia—and even in Mesopotamia and India—for
the cost of transport from Moscow to Ispahan vid Enzeli or vid Bushire (with
State-aided freight) is about the same. Up to the present time our shippers
in the Gulf have not found this competition formidable.
It is stated that Russian manufacturers are asking for an increrse in the
drawback allowed on cctton tissues, on the ground that the present allowance
does not cover the taxes levied on the commodities consumed by their work
men. A drawback on woollen tissues is also talked of. Whether the Russian
Government will be inclined to give effect to such suggestions is beyond the
province of this inquiry. It may at least have to consider the effect on the
non-manufacturing population in Caucasia and Transcaspia of increasing
the marked contrast between the price of certain commodities in these places
and across the Persian frontier. In Persia, -tea, sugar, kerosine, prints and
calicoes are all cheaper than in the Russian markets from which they are
derived. ....

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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 [‎6r] (11/252), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/357, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100061375796.0x00000c> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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