"ملف رقم: ١٤/ ١٤ الاسم؛ بنك لمسقط (البنك الإمبراطوري في إيران والخليج الفارسي)" [و‎‎١‎٢‎٤] (٤٣٤/٢٤٧)

7
Advances are also nade by woaltl^ norchante to da to
growers against their next season's croy, thus ensuring
that they obtain the first of the croy*
Vfhether shiyyed by steamer or country craft, all dates
are shiyyed on a conaigmient basis and are consigned to
the shippers' agents who soil the goods at thoir own
discretion and chargo a selling counisaion of Prou
what I could gather, it appears that tho no? bay date agents
have entered into a conbine which dictates prices fron tine
to tine* Although it la difficult to prove this, the fact
remains that up to the time dates cor nenoc arri ving in
Bombay tiic demand is reported to t o good with corroapondingly
good prices but once arrivals cor «nce tim price drops and
the Vuscat ex^ort&r hots tho current figure for his dates after
arrival•
It is customary for the Muscat nerohant exporters, on
shlyroent of their dates, to draw bundles on their Bombay
agents for 50^ of the value of their consigns ionts and the
necessity for recovering their capitrJ outlay in honouring
these bundles is of ton given by the •■gents as the reason
for selling the dates when yrioes aro low* Wealthier
merchants who do not need to draw on thoir agents in advance
but can afford to instruct their agents to hold until demand
revives, have a better chance of realising better prices.
Muscat merchants spoke of overhead charges Inclusive of
freight, custora export tax and Indian import duty and
incidental expenses as being Hs*400 to Bs*425 per baliar of
datea, approx* 1BOO Iba* f rliis appeared to me to be abnormally
high but however hard I tried, I could not find out how those
charges were made up and I waa told that Bombay agents do not
submit statements of account giving full out-turn details.
Neither growera nor shippers take the tsxjubl© to grade their
dates - I understand they would get better prices if they did -
but ship mixtures in bags* This method can lead to assessment
of import duty in Drclla operating against thorn. Import duty
in India 1* aUvalorem or of tariff value which is fixed at
&b*40/- per CfcY, for the highest quality. He*20/- for medium
quality and Ks*14/- for the lowest quality, and consignments
found on exanhnation to contain a larger proportion of beat
quality dates are charged the highest rate on the whole*
It might be noted here that the run eat date season is about
two and a half months ahead of tho Basra date season but this
decided advantage which the Muscat merchants have in this field
docs not appear to be ccmerclalised to its full extent*
There is no insurance company r^^^sented in Muscat though
Gray Mackenzie & Co* Ltd., will, if requested, arrange for cover
to be effected In Bombay* Merchants told me they would prefer
to ship their exports by Jb*X**> teasers covered against the usual
marine insurance. This is easily understood as freight rates.,
for dates to Bombay by country craft are fron Ra*^/- to R«.4/^/0
per bag and it is recognised that 20^ to 30^ of tho dates are
damaged by exposure to the Sun and oea water. Certain Muscat
raerchanta, I was told, are prepared to insure country craft
shipments against total lose only at a preniun of 2£* As
against these freight rates, the cost of shipping by 13.1. Steamer
came to Bs*3/2 per bag and insurance covering ordinary marine
risks would probably be not more than l/4^. Merchant* told mo,
however, that last year the Goverznent of India passed
leg isolation prohibiting the Import of dates into India by B*I*
Steamers except under licence which would bo granted to
importers on application on tho basis of 50£ of. thoir average
•r.r rg.-ma