‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎415r] (828/949)

( 6 )
11
mcmey against consignments, enabling consignees to clear their
goods and sell m small lots, i.e , if a man had 1,000 cases and had
not the money to clear the lot, the Bank would do it and let him
clear say 200 cases, and when they were sold take more
The imposition of the present tariff (which demands cash payments
and allows no credit) bears unduly heavily on low priced teas,
those tor which the poorer classes had a demand. It will be
seen that although Indian teas classed under “ the most favoured
nation clause, to be put on the same basis as Russia, still the
incidence of taxation on teas costing 4 annas por lb. comes
to about 100 per cent. The consequence is that where a
poor man could afford to use a pound of tea, he can now use only
a lb. at the same cost. . This must react on the trade and the
question before you now is whether or not you can get round this
by shipping a cheaper tea, of a mixed nature, which would suit
the pockets of the people. The effect of the tariff with its
accompaniment of vexatious delays black-mailing and other evils
(that must exist under the system in which the customs are
run here) was not apparent at first, as buyers bought largely
prior to the introduction of the tariff and "were holding large
stocks, which are only now being exhausted. It remains to be
seen how many traders will follow the example of Hajji Amin
Gillendhari and refuse to trade at any price.
(7) Then again petty traders are finding that owing to the increase in
customs duties and the enforcement of cash payments for dues
coupled with all sorts of charges, they require more than double
their capital to carry on with. This they cannot atford, especially
as it has to be coupled with the long credit system demanded by
their customers, cash payments cannot be avoided as goods have
to be removed within a limited period.
( 8 ) The want of a telegraph station and the slow as well as uncertain
postal system are also a great drawback to the development of
trade which is also hindered by the absence of roads and inseeu-
rity from robberyew route.
The manner in which the tea trade is carried lout generally and financed
between the buyers in Persia and the sellers in India is a perfectly straight
forward one. Buyers purchase in India through agents in Calcutta or Bombay,
who either pay cash by Hundi or against documents. The goods are then
shipped to Bunder Abbas cleared and forwarded by their agents here to the
distributing centres, where the head-quarters of the buyers are. The entire
risk of carriage by caravan and loss is taken by the buyers and does not affect
the transaction between agents and sellers in India.
I have shown the traders, agents, etc., in Bundar Abbas the list of Euro
pean and other firms interested in the Persian tea trade and hung a copy up
in Messrs. Gray, Paul & Co.’s office for their ready reference. I enclose
(enclosure A) a list of traders interested in the tea trade at Bunder Abbas and
trust it may be of use to your Committee and the tea trade. Ihe Indian
traders are buyers and sellers as well as agents. The others except Golara Ali
Khorasani, the agent of Arbab Jamshied Bahman of Tehran, aie forwarding
agents. Golam Ali represents one of the biggest merchants in lerfia, who
has branches in every city of importance throughout the country.
Means of transit .—Camels are used for the transport of tea inland entirely
and are more unsatisfactory, their load is about 360 lbs. and t ie cos o
carriage between this and Kerman, for instance, varies from 8 to omans
per 630 lbs. according to season. The distance is 300 miles by caravan route
and takes from 20 to 30 days, if all goes well.
Communications .—These are of the crudest. There are no ^ oac s 111
mthern Persia, nor is any wheeled traffic possible. Waterways iere ar |
me in this part of Persia, nor can I ascertain that theie is any c anee o
aking artificial water connection.