Year: 1876




most onerous that can be imagined, and
its burden is placed with blighting in
cidence wholly upon the producing
classes. For each plOwing bullock the
poor peasant pays nearly the value of
the animal yearly. He contributes of
his produce, he pays for every date-tree.
he is subject to q poll tax; now and then
he is called upon to protect his village
against an attack by robbers, and in
case of defeat must submit to be spoiled
of any portable property he possesses.
II there is highway robbery within
the boundaries Of his village, he must
pay his share of the losses incurred,
which it is not at all certain will ever
reach the empty pocket Of the plundered
man. He can never calculate the amount
of his taxation, for while the Governor
of this year may be lenient, his success
sor next year will be rapacious. AS
rule, the Governors purchase their Of
flee, and sometimes, over and above the
sum which they are obliged to return
as revenue, make annual presents to
the Shah. To repay themselves for this
outlay they ravage the district with tax
alton; and Governor is successful or
not, from his town point of view, in
reference to the sum, in excess of the
assessed amount, hich he or his vizier
(fOr the greater Jvernors rarely do this
themselves) can force from the peasants
and from the traders in the bazaars of
the towns. We were unable to present
the letter which the Sadr Azem had
given US to the Governor Of Bushire.
because a few days before our arrival
his Excellency had started with a large
number Of soldiers upon a tax-gather-
ing expedition. The crown of most
iniquitous system is the exemption of
the moollahs and in fact of all who are
not engaged in trade, commerce, or
agriculture. 1t follows from this sys-
TEN that men hoard money to the utmost
of their power and conceal their riches
as far as their tastes permit; that repro
ductive expenditure is restricted to
minimum, and that this is declining
every year as the demand for foreign
goods increases and the balance Oft trade
is augmented against Persia. Already
the gold coinage has virtually disap-
peared. The common talk of the ba-
zaars is of tomans, but the traveller may
spend hundred thousand without ever
seeing one. And now, year by year,
the silver kerans, which with the copper
shihees form the currency of Persia, are
passing away i'm millions to pay the bal
ance of trade, which, if native produc-
ton were encouraged, might so easily
be discharged by exports of wheat, cot
ton, wool, and opium. The value of the
specie exported from Bushire, the chief
port of Persia, in 1873, is reported by
Col. Ross, the Political Resident, to
have been Rs. 1858, 1886. When the
American War of Secession so greatly
raised the price of cotton, there was for
some years a considerable export from
Persia; but now that American cotton
is once more cheap and plentiful, it Is
ohN RhOseNeANAA -
checked by the heavy export duty, but
share of which reaches the Persian
treasury. We have already referred to
the Khan who farms the customs OF
Southern Persia. For the privilege of
collecting as much as he could get un-
der this head in the port of Bushire for
the year 1873, this person paid $1,000
tomans or about fl2,S00. None but
his dependents are employed in obtain
Ing the revenue; there is no interfe-
renee of any sort by employees of the
Government, and no returns or reports
are required of any of his transactions.
1t is surely mild language which the
British Resident uses in reference to
this monstrous abuse of fiscal authority,
when he writes to the Indian Govern
ment that "the system is felt to be in
convenient by traders. s.'-COntemPorcry ~
Reriep.