Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎345r] (692/1237)

4*
fcspreseaiationa have heea ^ade to
tu« local ^atiioritioa about the caadition ot tae atpc*yta to which
comoy traffic la beitig divet ted through Xabriss* The diversion trom
the main road haa been caused by lti& aumeroue accident» due to reckless
huesIan driving#
Jirgjih.1 tuaU^n# Up to February «iat undertaki^.a
had been fc .ivea ior tue usie to the doverument of 58,690 tone of wheat
ana 15,936 ton© or barley, of v sdaich 55,004 ax^i 15,795 tone respectively
had boon collected# in addition 1,450 tone oi wheat and 8*01$ tenia of
barley uad been pureh&a^d in the open market# The total of over
u*3,000 ton© so far actually received compare© lavouracly with last
yeur , a final ilgure of So,000 ton© and constitute© a record for
As«rhal4aa, tije previous b^et figure being 50,900 tons in a year when
the hcvei'nment price exceeded the free market price#
The transport department is working more efficiently and the
huasii&aa have offered to move £< rain from Turkoman to Mianeh provided
It 1© brought a© far as the main road, tneir trucks being too heavy
to aetotiate the ^tud track to it© present ©tore* With better weather
makin*. general transport conditions easibr there now seems no reason
why ti^e rate oi supplies to Tehran eh >uld not he substantially
increased*
60# AMurfa ~ilo# The local ©11o, whose capacity Is 16,000 tone,
continue© to live from hand to mouth# >uite recently it had less than
a ton of wheat left on hand after making Its issues for the day#
i.sauee are still in cxceeg of bakers* requirement a, but tne price has
been inci'eased to 2,600 rials per ton# im re 1© now no admixture of
barley with iauris bread an wheat is the more plentiful#
^1* ^uyp.li os Qf iicc^^opas T uijd u^ur# The announcement made in
Tehran of 'the impenalng ulstributioa oi these co?maodlties is likely to
cause uisappointment hure wi^er# stock© aie too low to satisfy require
ments# The last distribution of piece-goods in Tabris took place a
year ago anu was at tne rate of one and a half metres per person# How
total ©teaks only amount to la?, 00 metres, or about three quarters of
a metre per head of the population, without making any alliwancc for
U*© rest of the province, dor, a© aentioned in previous reports, is
taere enough augur to go round# In Tabrls only one laontifs ration has
been distributed during ths last three months and many places have
iMiceived nothing at all#
AXi^argy The Russians have declined to lift
the ban on the export oi dried fruit© and other commodities# It has
bben su^gestsd to them that they should take a ciefinite quantity at a
ii&e>d price am allow tiie remainder to be disposed of freely. They
are how In the market ior 1,600 tons of raisins for delivery to Julia,
but no contracts have yet been concluded#
The Bu&siams aru also negotiating for wool# Merchants have
l&rg© ©tocic©, but there are lew buyers owing to toe export ban# The
local price has consequently ialien from Hide 560 to 300 per poud*
55# Jt hsr w-mmercial v^s# The trend oi opinion and interest
am mg tae commercial community may be junked uy tiie fact taat from the
600 Tsbris merchant© on the Imperial hank of Iran’s credit list before
tne Russian occupation consider ably ovar 500 nave since left the town,
mostly for Tehran#
There has been little business activity, market© oeing tinder
the iuilucnae of tha end oi tii© year settlements#
The head of the electricity Jo^pany states that oo; of current
produced Is being consumed by the mss fan military authorities, who
are paying ths totally u&ccouomia price of oo ainars per kilowatt as
against the orainary consumers dials 7#
/34.