Coll 30/9 'Persian Gulf: Administration Reports 1926-1938' [‎451r] (906/1028)

Security. Security was on the whole better than last year. During
August there were a succession of robberies in the Mamassani area, perpe
trated by the followers of Imam Quli Khan who was in open insurrection
against the Government. Troops were however sent down from Isfahan and
Shiraz and by the end of September security had been restored and remained
good up to the end of the year.
Smuggling —In the town of Bushire itself smuggling was considerably
reduced by the importation of fifth tufangchis from Kazeroon, who, not
being friends or relations of the smugglers, were more willing than local
tufangchis to carry out preventive duty. This, however, had but little
effect on the general situation, as all the villages just outside the town con
tinue to sell smuggled goods and the townspeople now buy their supplies from
these villages. Smuggling throughout the rest of the district and up-
country showed a steady increase. The absence of robbery in the vicinity of
Bushire, such as occurred last year and were put down to smugglers, may in
fact probably be attributed to the greater and more secure profits made in
The smuggling trade itself.
Postal Facilities .—A motor postal service from Bushire to Shiraz oper
ated with regularity throughout the greater part of the year. At the end of
the summer the Junkers Aviation Company established a weekly air mail,
arriving Thursdays and leaving Sundays, between Bushire, Shiraz, Isfahan
and Tehran. This has made a great difference in the postal facilities to the
interior as an answer can now be received from the Capital in five days
instead of three weeks which is the minimum time for a reply by motor post.
Foreign Commercial Enterprise Wassmus continues to farm at
Chaghadak, on the far side of the Mashileh, but is not making much profit
on his crops. During the winter months he supplements his earnings by
hauling out motor lorries, which get stuck in the Mashileh mud, with his
Ford son tractor; he charges 20 Tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. per lorry.
The German Hansa line still runs a monthly service of steamers to the
Gulf but German trade has not noticeably altered in volume.
The Russian Steamship Service to the Gulf, mention of which has been
made above, appears to have come to an end. Doubtless it proved too eco
nomically unsound.
Opium. —4,730 cases of opium were shipped from Bushire in 1928 as
against 6,369 in 1927 and 7,894 in 1926.
Of this number, 2,350 cases w^ere shipped under license and 2,380 un
licensed. The apparent falling off in exports of Persian opium does not re
present the true facts of the case, as the decrease is due to the Persian
embargo on imported opium. Formerly, a large quantity of opium was
imported into Persia from India and remained in bonded warehouse until
it was icshipped to the Far East, usually on false clearance papers showing
the destination as India. The object of this was two-fold. Firstly to get
the opium out of India on clearances for Persia which then had no restric
tions on import of opium; and secondly to re-export it as Persian opium at
a higher price, as the morphine content might be expected to be larger than
in the case of Indian opium. Persia has now forbidden the importation of
opium and so put a stop to this trade.
The Persian Government introduced an opium monopoly law in July
1928. The effect of this will probably be to raise the price of Persian
opium and restrict production, as it is unlikely that cultivation under the
monopoly will be as profitable as it has been hitherto. According to the
monopoly law, opium growers must get permission to cultivate the poppy
and cultivation and collection must be supervised by the Government-
Opium destined for consumption in Persia must be sold to the monopoly
administration and stored in Government warehouses.
At present opium for export must be prepared by the exporting
merchants under Government supervision and is subject to a tax of