reached a maximum in 1900 and 1901, as will be seen from the
following table:—
| Average Price, 1880. |
Price, April 1900. |
Price, June 1908. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Wheat, per kharvar (649 ℔) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bread, ordinary, per mann (612 ℔) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meat, mutton (per mann) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cheese (per mann) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clarified butter (per mann) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Milk (per mann) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eggs, per 100 |
Forests and Timber.—Timber from the forests of Mazandaran and Gilan has been a valuable article of export for many years, and since about 1870 large quantities of boxwood have also been exported thence; in some years the value of the timber and boxwood exported has exceeded £50,000 This value represented about 200,000 box trees and quite as many others. Much timber is also used for charcoal-burning, and occasionally large parts of forest are burned by the people in order to obtain clearings for the cultivation of rice. The destruction of the forests by timber cutters and charcoal-burners has been allowed to go on unchecked, no plantations have been laid out, and nothing has been done for forest conservation. Indiscriminate cutting has occasionally been confined within certain bounds, but such restrictions were generally either of short duration or made for the convenience and profit of local governors. The oak forests of Kurdistan, Luristan and the Bakhtiari district are also being rapidly thinned. A small step in the right direction was made in 1900 by engaging the services of an official of the Prussian forest department, but unfortunately, beyond sending him to inspect the Mazandaran forests belonging to the Crown, and employing him to lay out a small plantation in the Jajrud valley, east of Teherān, nothing was done. The monopoly for cutting and exporting the timber of the Mazandaran forests is leased to European firms, principally for box and oak. Boxwood has become scarce. There are many kinds of good timber-yielding trees, the best known being alder (Alnus glutinosa, Wild., A. barbata, A. cordifolia, Ten.), ash (Fraxinus excelsior, L.), beech (Fagus sylvatica), elm (Ulmus campestris, U. effusa, U. pedunculata), wych-elm (Ulmus montana), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus, L.), Juniper (Juniperus excelsa, J. communis, J. sabina), maple (Acer insigne, Boiss., A. campestre, A. pseudo-platanus, L.), oak (Quercus ballota, Q. castaneaefolia, Q. sessiliflora, Q. pedunculata), walnut, nettle tree (Celtis australis, L.), Siberian elm (Zelkova crenata, Spach.), and various kinds of poplar. Pipe-sticks, from the wild cherry tree, are exported to Turkey.
Fisheries.—Fish is a staple food along the shores of the Persian Gulf, but the Crown derives no revenue from fisheries there. The fisheries of the Caspian littoral are leased to a Russian firm (since 1868), and most of the fish goes to Russia (31,120 tons, value £556,125, in 1906–1907). The fish principally caught are sturgeon, giving caviare, sheat fish or silure, salmon, carp, bream and perch.
Minerals and Mining.—Persia possesses considerable mineral riches, but the absence of cheap and easy means of transport, and the scarcity of fuel and water which prevails almost everywhere, make any exploitation on a remunerative scale impossible, and the attempts which have been made to work mines with European capital and under European superintendence have been financially unsuccessful. Deposits of rich ores of copper, lead, iron, manganese, zinc, nickel, cobalt, &c., abound. A few mines are worked by natives in a primitive, systemless manner, and without any great outlay of capital. There are turquoise mines near Nishapur (for description of mines, manner of working, &c., see A. Houtum-Schindler, Report on the Turquoise Mines in Khorasan, F. O. Reports, 1884, and “Die Gegend zwischen Sabzwar und Meschhed,” Jahrbuch k. k. geol. R. A. Wien, vol xxxvi.; also E. Tielze, Verhandl. k. k. geol. R. A., 1884, p. 93); several copper mines in Khorasan, Samnan, Azerbaijan and Kermān; some of lead, two considerably argentiferous, in Khorasan, Tudarvar (near Samnan), Anguran, Afshar (both west of Zenjan), and Kermān; two of iron at Mesula in Gilan and Nur in Mazandaran; two of orpiment in Afshar and near Urmia; one of cobalt at Kamsar (near Kashan); one of alum in Tarom (near Kazvin), and a number of coal in the Lar district, north-east of Teherān, and at Hiv and Abyek, north-west of Teherān. There are also many quarries of rock-salt, gypsum, lime and some of marble, alabaster, soapstone, &c. The annual revenue of the government from the leases, rents and royalties of mines does not amount to more than £15,000, and about £6000 of this amount is derived from the turquoise mines near Nishapur. As the rents and royalties, excepting those on the turquoise mines, amount to about one-fifth of the net proceeds, it may be estimated that the value of the annual output does not exceed £50,000, while the intrinsic value of the ores, particularly those of lead, iron, cobalt and nickel, which have not yet been touched can be estimated at millions. There are also some very rich coal seams in eastern Persia, far away on the fringe of the desert, and under existing conditions quite valueless. The richest deposits of nickel, cobalt and antimony ores are also situated in localities where there is little water and the nearest useful fuel some hundred miles away. Auriferous alluvial strata have been discovered in various localities, but ever where the scarcity of water has been a bar to their being exploited with profit. A rich naphtha-bearing zone stretches from the Luristan hills near Kermānshāh down to the Persian Gulf. Competent engineers and specialists have declared that borings in the Bakhtiari hills, west of Shushter, would give excellent results, but the difficult hilly country and the total absence of roads, as well as the antipathy of the inhabitants of the district, would make the transport and establishment of the necessary plant a most difficult matter. A British syndicate has been boring at several places in the zone since 1903.
Commerce.—The principal centres of commerce are Tabriz, Teherān, Resht, Meshed and Yezd; the principal ports Bander Abbasi, Lingah, Bushire and Muhamrah on the Persian Gulf, and Astara, Enzeli, Meshed i Sar and Bander i Gez on the Caspian.
Until 1899 all the customs were farmed out (1898–1899 for £300,000), but in March of that year the farm system was abolished in the two provinces of Azerbaijan and Kermānshāh, and, the experiment there proving successful, in all other provinces in the following year. At the same time a uniform duty of 5% ad valorem was established. In October 1901 a treaty fixing a tariff and reserving “the most favoured nation” treatment for the countries already enjoying it was concluded between Persia and Russia. It was ratified in December 1902 and came into force on the 14th of February 1903. The commercial treaty with Great Britain, concluded in 1857, provided for the “most favoured nation” treatment, but nevertheless a new treaty under which the duties levied on British imports would be the same as on Russian imports was made with Great Britain a few days before the new tariff came into force and was ratified in May.
For the value of imports and exports previous to 1901 the only statistics available were the figures given in consular reports, which were not always correct. In 1897 it was estimated that the value of the imports from and exports to Great Britain, including India, amounted to £3,250,000. About a quarter of this trade passed over the western frontier of Persia, while three-quarters passed through the Persian Gulf ports. The value of the trade between Russia and Persia was then about £3,500,000 Since 1901 detailed statistics have been published by the customs department, and according to them the values of the imports and exports in thousands of pounds sterling for the six years 1901–1907 were as follows:—
| Imports. | Exports. | Total. | |
| 1901–1902 | 5429 | 2738 | 8,167 |
| 1902–1903 | 4970 | 3388 | 8,358 |
| 1903–1904 | 7000 | 4632 | 11,632 |
| 1904–1905 | 5832 | 4132 | 9,964 |
| 1905–1906 | 6441 | 4886 | 11,327 |
| 1906–1907 | 7982 | 6544 | 14,526 |
The imports and exports during the year 1906–1907 (total value £14,526,234) were distributed as follows (values in thousands sterling):—
| Russia | 8292 |
| Great Britain | 3128 |
| Turkey | 1335 |
| France | 700 |
| Austria | 277 |
| Afghanistan | 203 |
| Germany | 182 |
| China | 142 |
| U.S. America | 69 |
| Italy | 65 |
| Egypt | 41 |
| Netherlands | 37 |
| Belgium | 24 |
| Switzerland | 22 |
| Sweden | 8 |
| Other countries | 1 |
| 14,526 |
While the value of the trade between Great Britain and Persia in 1906–1907 was almost the same as in 1897, that of the trade with Russia had increased from 312 millions to 814 or 137%. The average yearly value of the trade between Great Britain and Persia during the six years was £2,952,185 (imports £2,435,016, exports £517,169);between Russia and Persia £6,475,866 (imports £3,350,072, exports £3,125,794). The average values of the trade with other countries were: France £666,000, Austria £246,000, Germany £124,000, Italy £79,000, United States of America £52,000, Netherlands £39,000.
The principal imports into Persia in approximate order of value are cottons, sugar, tea, woollens, cotton yarn, petroleum, stuffs of wool and cotton mixed, wool, hardware, ironmongery, matches, iron and steel, dyes, rice, spices and glassware. The principal exports are fruits (dried and fresh), carpets, cotton, fish, rice, gums, wool, opium, silk cocoons, skins, live animals, silks, cottons, wheat, barley, drugs and tobacco.
Shipping and Navigation.—Shipping under the Persian flag is restricted to vessels belonging to the Persian Gulf ports Some of the larger craft, which are called baglah, and vary from 50 to 300 tons, carry merchandise to and from Bombay, the Malabar
