'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎569] (660/748)

COMMERCE AND TIIAUE
569
the valiant totals published at St. Petersburg, but they are con
firmed by local authority. Since the opening of /fche Transcaspian
Railway, however, this route has lost much of its importance,
eastern Khorasan, Meshed, and north-west Afghanistan being now
almost entirely fed by the aid of General Annenkoffs line. Ac
cordingly, the Gez returns show a marked decline, and the British
native agent Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government. at Astrabad gave the figures of total native and Russian
imports as- 51,900L, of which 19,090L were Russian, and of total
exports as 20,000Z., or a total trade of 71,900L As regards the
Meshed trade, I have shown in a previous chapter that the value of
British goods imported into Meshed by the long overland route
via Trebizond, Tabriz, and Teheran was in 1889 23,429Z.; and of
Anglo-Indian goods imported via Bunder Abbas, 60,87U.; while
the value of Russian imports in the same period, mainly via Ashk-
abad and Kuchan, was 110,408/. I showed further that, in view of
the marked advantages enjoyed by Russia over England in this
quarter, her superiority may be expected to increase rapidly, the
better quality and greater favour of English goods being unable to
compete with a cheaper article imported from only a quarter of the
distance. 1 The general commercial ascendency of Russia in Khorasan
is, indeed, a fact which no one with a knowledge of the country and
its markets can dispute, and which an inspection of the map at
once explains. The utmost, as I have argued, that British com
merce can there do is to concentrate its attention upon the southern
or Anglo-Indian avenues of ingress, and to urge the improvement
and greater security of the roads from the Gulf, at present in parts
in an abominable condition, and the appointment of British Consular
officers at Bunder Abbas, Kerman, and Yezd, so as to facilitate and
extend the ingress of Bombay trade.
From Meshed a transit trade in Anglo-Indian wares, but more
especially in tea, is conducted to Khiva and Bokhara. Out of
Transit 123,714/. worth of Chinese green tea imported into Meshed
9° Meshed from Bunder Abbas in 1889, 122,857/. was in transit to
to Khiva t | ie Khanates. It is scarcely credible, but it is true, that,
Bokhara owing to the exorbitant dues charged by the Amir of
1 Before going to press I am afforded the opportunity (Jan. 1892) of confirm
ing my own prediction by the figures of General Maclean's second Khorasan report
(F. 0. Annual Series, No. 976) for 1890-1. He shows that while Anglo-Indian
imports into Khorasan have increased ^71,500 in the year, Russian imports have
increased £97,190; and that Russian piece goods are rapidly ousting British
chintzes.