‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎437v] (873/949)

[ 2 ]
desire to make an official complaint hut merely to lay before you certain facts I
have done before Major Cox, in order that you may both know how matters are.
To pass however to matters that concern us more nearly.
In Kerman I have had more difficulty than almost anywhere else in
meeting and extracting information from the traders. This is in great part
due to the cholera scare from which the people of Kerman, from the Governor-
General to the seller of water, have not yet recovered. There is, it is true a
certain amount of information which the Consulate have gathered, but it is
far from complete or accurate, as indeed how could it be, there bein? no
records to go by nor European firms to assist from a business point of view.
Then the sickness amongst my staff has not improved matters.
However, apart from the wearisome and useless official visits I have been
compelled to pay all round, we have had interviews with the merchants and
representatives of the Parsees, the Hindu and the Mussulman communities.
The most useful as well as the brightest-minded man wo have found here is
Mirza Ali, a Hindu of kind, who has turned Mohammedan and who has traded
in this part of Persia for over 20 years and who has promised to accompany
me on my return to India to see what he can do to open up trade. From ail
these people we have got a certain amount of information which strained and
sifted is not absolutely unsatisfactory, so far as India is concerned, for while
indicating difficulties it suggests ways to improvements.
I here is a large import in grey prints and chintzes of different kinds,
90,000 to 100,000 pieces being the yearly import, about a fifth of which come
from Russia. There is also a considerable demand, supplied, it seems, mostly by
England and Bombay, for cotton yarns, mostly blues, whites and reds. The
annual importation supplemented by home manufacturers of woollen goods,
which are mostly flimsy, comes to about 1,600 pieces. The prices of all
samples are marked on them.
. -^ e merchants, in particular the Parsees and Persians, were greatly taken
with the samples of woollens shown them, and it seems to me that we could do
a considerable trade in woollens of a suitable quality at popular prices. The
pnces must be moderate, however, as this is a poor land, and the steady increase
in opium consumption that has taken place among the Mohammedans will not
help to enrich them.
i have sent you two telegrams, copies enclosed, which I now beg to cor
hrm, asking you to send a full range of Muir and Woollen Mills samples a
soon as possible with prices m rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , to the Mutazid Hewan, Kerman, th
r TT t0 th( ? ^overnor-General, who is also a partner in the firm c
rT lm A°u tant pe 0 P le * Q« 0 <^ions should always be ii
written b Persian dearly. ^ dlSC0Unts bein S sbown separately and al
and ^ ^ ^ ere ^ ra ^ co tt° n or wool, no cotton being produce*
and all the wool being consumed in the manufacture of carpets.
I he export trade consists in :— r
Caraway seed (green)
Caraway seed (black)
Madder . .
Pistachios . #
Almonds
Saffron
Opium
Leather
Gum Tragacanth
2 Krans per Tabreez mauud, 1,C00 maunds exported
Si. + k r\ .. r
ditto,
ditto.
5 „ per maund,
3 „ ditto.
80 cents per 4th oz. 200 lbs
220 ~
5,000
10,000
10,000
6,000
exported.
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
ditto.
Krans per maund, 200 maunds exported to
Bunder Abbas.
All bides (not many) are used locally, but 10,000
goat skins are sent to Bombay. Price paid
here, 18 krans per bundle of 20 skins. From
enquiries made 1 think there is a fair
opening for N. W. T. goods in Kerman.
1 told the people that a sample consignment
might be sent out and they were delighted,
specially regarding boots or shoes I. M.
O. or semi-military saddles. In these it
is all a question of low price and good useful
stuff.
5 to 15 Krans per. maund, according to quality,
ihe production varies very greatly with the
years but averages 1,000 maunds, which is
all exported.