'FILE NO: 14/14 name; BANK FOR MUSCAT (IMPERIAL BANK OF IRAN & THE PERSIAN GULF)' [‎126r] (251/434)

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At the beginning or the V9J?$ the Erltlch f Inlatry of
Food purchased large conslgnEients of dry sardines which
were shipped to Karachi and later they intimated that they
would buy up all available supplies If tlie ' uacat r c ’c^uints
could provide freight to the U.K, but,of course, this was
impossible for theft to arrange*
All Uie fish from the small coastal villages are
brought by country craft to Hut trail. The seasons for
sardines are from February to raid-April, fron the end of
August to end of September and from the end of jttoeLiher
to the end of January*
Ceylon is the main market for dried fish for which the
season* are June to August and novenber to January •
fc'erchants are hoping to re-ooi irtenoe business with the
Continent and with the United Kingdom*
Dr*Berti*a*a from the Fisheries boa^d paid a visit to
Muscat recently to examine the mftwtKis used for salting
and drying fish* unfortunately, his report had not been
received by the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. by the time I left Muscat but I
understand that he considered there was good scope for
development, especially in subsidiary lines such as
Shark liver-oil etc*
Ljp-’ES . Limes are ^ulto an important export* They are
available all the year round in Muscat and are crown behind
the date garden belt and also between date gardens* They
are exported chiefly to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
As in the case of dates, an import tax of 3^ is charged
on limes inserted into Muscat but no agricultural tax is
levied*
IMPQnTd * Before the Tior, Muscat imported its requirements
from various countries, such as hardware and hurricane
lanterns from Britain anti Geroany, textiles from Britain and
Japan, cement froti Japan, sugar from Java, Coffee fron Brasil
and Ceylon and cereals from India* Moat of the present-day
imports come from India (with Iraq a good second) due to
the fact that the bulk of the exports go to India and the
proceeds are utilised in purchases from India* gone of the
merchants, however, have recommenced importing from the
United Kingdom but others, after w^ioactlng supplier a in
the U*K, were forced to abandon negotiations on beir^ asked
to furnish the name of their Bankers*
At present, one-third of the imports of textiles, sugar,
wheat and rice are taken over by the Government Control
Department and rationed through the Government appointed
agents* The remaining two-thirds of these particular imports
car be sold by the merchants at whatever price they can
obtain or re-exported if they desire to do so* Ho refund of
duty is made on re-exports nor is there any transit duty
applied*
bhen conditions bocome more normal, it is reasonable to
suppose that all imports of wheat and rlco will come from
Karachi owing to the proximity of that port, but it is open to