new tariff is too detailed to be summarised here. The Customs Department is worked by Belgian officials. According to the statistics published officially by the Minister of Customs in November, 1903, the values of the imports and exports for the three years 1900-03 were as follows (about 55 krans = 17.): Value of total commerce For 1903-04, the imports were stated to amount to 7,000,0007., and the exports to 4,633,000l. sterling; but the rate of exchange is not mentioned. The following table shows (in thousands of krans) the values of the chief imports into, and exports from, Persia in 1902–03, and the values coming from and going to Great Britain (including British possessions) and Russia :— The following figures from Persian Gulf Consular Reports and from reports published by the Persian Custom House relate to the foreign trade of the year 1903. In 1902 the total tonnage entered at these ports was 687,769 tons, of which 618,484 tons was British. Other trade routes are through Trebizond, through Resht and Meshed to Russia, and through Khorassan and Sistan to Afghanistan and India. The direct trade of Persia with the United Kingdom in each of the last five years was as follows, according to the Board of Trade returns:— The direct imports from Persia into Great Britain in 1903 consisted mainly of opium, valued at 46,2117.; shells, 8,2167.; wool, 20,8317.; fruit, 3,1857.; gum, 70,5947. Cotton goods, of the value of 366,3651., woollen goods, 8,8367., and copper-work, 16,0777. were the staple articles of British export to Persia in 1903. Money and Credit. The Shah in 1889 granted a concession to Baron Julius de Reuter for the formation of a State Bank of Persia, with head office at Teheran and branches in the chief cities. The bank was formed in the autumn of the same year, with the title "The Imperial Bank of Persia," and incorporated by Royal Charter granted by H.M. the late Queen, and dated September 2, 1889. The authorised capital is 4 millions sterling, which may be increased. The bank started with a capital of one million sterling, of which the greater part was remitted to Persia at the then reigning exchange of 32-34. In consequence of the great fall in silver and the rise in the exchange, to 50 or more, the capital was reduced in December 1894, to 650,000l. The bank has the exclusive right of issuing bank-notes-not exceeding 800,000l. without the assent of the Persian Government. The issue of notes on the basis of the silver krân. The coin in reserve for the first two years was 50 per cent.; it is now 33 per cent. The bank had the exclusive right of working throughout the Empire the iron, copper, lead, mercury, coal, petroleum, manganese, borax, and asbestos mines, not already conceded. It started business in Persia in October 1889, in April 1890 took over the Persian business of the New Oriental Bank Corporation (London), which had established branches and agencies in Persia in the summer of 1888, and now has branches at Tabriz, Resht, Meshed, Ispahan, Yezd, Shiraz, Kermanshah, Bushire, and Bombay; and agencies at several other towns. The mining rights were ceded to the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation, Limited, which was formed in April 1890, and went into liquidation in January, 1894. There is also established at Teheran the Russian Banque d'Escompte,' formerly Banque des Prêts de Perse' (which is connected with the Russian State Bank and floated the loans of 1900 and 1902 to Persia), and a highly paid official permanently resides at Teheran as Agent of the Russian Minister of Finance. Communications. A small railway from Teheran to Shah Abdul-azîm (six miles) was opened in July, 1888, and is in the hands of a Belgian company, 'Société des chemins de fer et tramways de Perse.' The river Karûn at the head of the Persian Gulf has been opened to foreign navigation as far as Ahwâz, and Messrs. Lynch Brothers are running a steamer on it once a fortnight, with a subsidy from the British Government. In virtue of a concession to a Persian subject. Messrs. Lynch have obtained certain rights and employed some capital, about 5,500l., for opening a caravan road (improved mule track) and constructing some bridges between Ahwâz and Ispahan. Three bridges, two iron, one stone, have been erected, and the road was opened in the autumn of 1900. Until 1903 the only carriageable roads in Persia were Teherân-Kom and Teherân-Resht, the former 91 miles, the latter about 220 miles, and on both mails and travellers were conveyed by carts. Mails and passengers are now conveyed by carts on some other roads, but these, only slightly improved and being practically as nature made them, are somewhat difficult for wheeled traffic. A concession for the construction of a cart road with the option of changing it later for a "chaussée," or macadamized road, from Kazvîn to Enzeli on the Caspian was granted to a Russian firm in 1893, and the Russian Government having aided with capital and guarantee, construction was begun in 1897 and the road opened for traffic in August, 1899. The concession includes the road from Kazvîn to Teherân, which has been open for wheeled traffic since 1880, and a branch from Kazvîn to Hamadan, not yet surveyed. In 1903 Messrs. Lynch acquired the concessionary rights of the Imperial Bank of Persia for the roads Teheran-Kom-Isfahan, Kom-Muhamrah, and formed the "Persian Road and Transport Company," which started construction on the Kom-Isfahan section in the summer of 1904. Persia has a system of telegraphs consisting of about 5,990 miles of line, with about 9,970 miles of wire, and 130 stations. (a) 675 miles of line with three wires-that is, 2,025 miles of wire between Bushire and Teherân-are worked by an English staff, and form the Indo-European Telegraph Department in Persia, an English Government department, established in virtue of the conventions of 1868 and 1872 between the British and Persian Governments. (b) 415 miles of line with three wires, 1,245 miles of wire between Teherân and Julfâ on the RussoPersian frontier, are worked by the Indo-European Telegraph Company, Limited, according to its concession of 1868. A new convention between the British and Persian Governments was signed in August, 1901, for the construction and working by the British Government of a three-wire line, 900 miles in length, from Kashán to British Balúchistan viâ Yezd, Kermán, Bam and Bampúr. Construction of this line was begun in October, 1902, and telegraphic communication with India was effected in May 1904. The construction of the line east of Bampûr is, however, not quite completed. (c) About 4,000 miles of single wire lines belong to the Persian Government, and are worked by a Persian staff. During the year 1899-1900, 152,837 messages with an aggregate of 2,135,375 words were transmitted by the English Government and Indo-European Telegraph Company's lines. The average time of transmission of a message between Karachi and England was fifty-two minutes. The income of the Indo-European Telegraph Department for the year 1899-1900 was 111,8677.; that of the Indo-European Telegraph Company for the same year, 154,9267. The Persian lines are held in farm by the Minister of Telegraphs for 800,000 krâns (13,8007.) per annum. No statistics are published. The first regular postal service, established by an Austrian official in Persian employ, was opened January, 1877. Under it mails are regularly conveyed to and from the principal cities in Persia. There is a service twice a week to and from Europe via Resht or Tabrîz and Tiflîs (letters to be marked 'via Russia '), and a weekly service to India via Bushire. There are 106 post offices. From August to November 1898 the posts were held in farm by the Minister of Posts for 700,000 krâns (14,0007.) per annum; the farm was then reduced to 400,000 krâns, and in September, 1899, increased to 600,000 krâns (12,0001.) per annum. In March, 1901, the farm system was abolished and in 1902 the post office was joined to the Customs Department worked by Belgian officials, but as to the number of letters, postcards, parcels, &c., conveyed, no statistics are obtainable. Money, Weights, and Measures. The monetary unit is the krân, a silver coin, formerly weighing 28 nakhods (88 grains), then reduced to 26 nakhods (77 grains), now weighing only 24 nakhods (71 grains) or somewhat less. The proportion of pure silver was before the new coinage (commenced 1877) 92 to 95 per cent. ; it was then for some time 90 per cent., and is now about 89 per cent. The value of the krân has in consequence much decreased. In 1874 a krân had the value of a franc, 25 being equal to 17. In consequence of the fall in the price of silver, the value of a krân is at present (October, 1904) 4 d., a 17. bill on London being worth 58 krâns, the average exchange for some years having been 50 krâns. The coins in circulation, with their values calculated at exchange 17. = 50 krâns, are: In consequence of an excess of coinage by a former mint-master the copper money greatly depreciated in value since 1896 and was circulating at less than its price of copper, viz. 80 to 83 copper shahis (weighing about lb.) to one silver krân (4 d.). The Government then decided to introduce a nickel coinage instead; great quantities of five and ten centimes pieces, of same size and weight as those current in Belgium, and of the nominal value of and krân, were coined at Brussels and put into circulation in the Autumn of 1900, the copper coinage being withdrawn. Gold coins are: Toman, Toman, 1 Toman, 2, 5 and 10 Tomans. The Toman is nominally worth 10 Kráns; very few gold pieces are in circulation, and a gold Toman is at present worth 20 Krâns=6s. 10d. Accounts are reckoned in dînârs, an imaginary coin, the ten-thousandth part of a toman of ten krâns. A krân therefore =1,000 dînârs; one shâhî= 50 dînârs. The unit of weight is the miskâl (71 grains), subdivided into 24 nakhods (2.96 grains) of 4 gandum (74 grain) each. Sixteen miskâls make a sîr, and 5 sîr make an abbâssî, also called wakkeh, kervânkeh. Most articles are bought and sold by a weight called batman or man. The mans most = 116.80 Corn, straw, coal, &c., are sold by Kharvár=100 Tabriz Mans The unit of measure is the zar or gez; of this standard several are in use. The most common is the one of 40.95 inches; another, used in Azerbâïjân, equals 44.09 inches. A farsakh theoretically=6,000 zar of 40.95 inches 3.87 miles. Some calculate the farsakh at 6,000 zar of 44'09 inches 4.17 miles. The measure of surface is jerîb=1,000 to 1,066 square zar of 40.95 inches 1,294 to 1,379 square yards. Diplomatic Representatives. 1. OF PERSIA IN GREAT BRITAIN. Envoy and Minister.-Mirza Mohamed Ali Khan, Ala-es-Saltanéh, accredited March 4, 1890. Councillor of Legation.—Mirza Mehdi Khan, Moïn-el-Vezareh. Consul-General.-H. S. Foster. 2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN PERSIA. Teheran: Envoy, Minister, and Consul-General.-Sir Arthur Hardinge, K.C.M.G., K.C. B., appointed August 12, 1900. Councillor of Legation.-E. M. Grant Duff. Military Attaché.-Lieut.-Col. J. A. Douglas. There are Consular representatives at Tehran, Tabriz (C.-G.), Resht, Bundar Abbas, Meshed (C.-G.), Ispahan (C.-G.), Sistan, Kerman, Muhumrah, Shîrâz, Kermanshâh, Hamadân, Yezd, Ahwaz, Turbat-i-Haidari. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Persia. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Eastern Persia: an Account of the Journeys of the Persian Boundary Commission, 1870-72. 2 vols. 8. 1876. Treaty Series, No. 10, 1903. This gives the Commercial Convention of May 27, 1903, The customs tariff is also given in the Board of Trade Journal (No. 325) for February 19, 1903, and in United States Consular Reports (No. 273) for June, 1903. Foreign Office Reports. [On the trade of Bushire, Lingah, Bunder Abbas, Mohammerah, and other ports in the Persian Gulf. On Kermanshah. On the trade of Resht, and of Meshed.] Annual Series. London. Report on the Condition and Prospects of British Trade in Persia by H. W. Maclean; Board of Trade, June 1904. |