Manufactures.—The State is nowadays primarily an agricul tural rather than an industrial one. If we exclude oil products, bullion and re-exports, 68% of her exports during the year 1926 27 consisted of agricultural products. and only 25% of articles of home manufacture. Owing, no doubt, in a great measure to the fact that their wealth is mainly in the form of property and kind, Persians themselves cannot readily find money for invest ment in industrial enterprise, while practically all attempts made during the past half-century to finance Persian industries with foreign capital have ended in failure. Manufactures of gas, glass, sugar, matches, and cotton textiles have all been tried but have all succumbed in turn from one cause or another. It is encourag ing however to note that some signs of industrial revival are now apparent. An enterprising Kazvini, who for some time has had a cotton-spinning factory in operation at Tabriz has achieved suffi cient success there to enable him (in 1928) to erect works for wool-spinning in his native town; silk is being spun at Resht; a defunct cotton and wool-spinning factory has been restarted in Tehran; while a new spinning and weaving factory, equipped with German machinery, which was erected in Isfahan in 1926 is said to be turning out excellent blankets and rough cloth. It is perhaps questionable however whether it could continue to thrive but for the accord of strenuous support on the part of the Central Government, in the shape of cash and contracts and the issue of decrees making it incumbent on officials to wear home made cloth. So much for machine made goods. The hand-made carpets and rugs of Persia which have been so famous for the last 5 centuries still constitute her most important and valuable indus try and in 1925-26 were exported to the value of nearly 21 mil lions sterling. Nevertheless experts are not without misgiving for the future of the industry, owing partly to the appearance of new and more accessible sources of manufacture but also, unfortu nately, to the increasing employment of the aniline dye, which has done so much to harm the time-honoured reputation of the Persian carpet. Other countries, it is true, make use of aniline dyes, but with them the yarn is dyed faster and the colours are superior in quality to the crude shades of red and fuchsine which the Persian weaver is prone nowadays to use in such abundance. At the same time Chinese and Italian production is making rapid progress; Anatolia is once more becoming a se rious competitor, and the looms set up in Greece by the Greek and Armenian weavers expelled from Turkish territory during the War are also beginning to make their influence felt. Another interesting industry is the calico-printing of Isfahan and the neighbourhood—Manchester calico block-printed in colours. As a rule one block-design is used for the whole piece, and the resulting prints are popular for use as summer curtains, bed coverlets, and table-cloths. The material is also used locally for shrouds for the dead, for which purpose special designs are used bearing suitable inscriptions from the Koran. During the summer the dry bed of the Zindeh Rud at Isfahan may be seen covered with bright and freshly printed fabrics laid out to dry in the sun. Space forbids more than brief mention of several other minor arts and industries such as the pierced brass-work of Isfahan, used especially for lamps, of beautiful design; the repousse silver work of Shiraz and Isfahan; the wood-carving of Abadeh and Gulpaigan; the mosaic and tile-work of Shiraz and Kerman; and last but not least, the beautiful decorative painting work carried out on lacquered papier-mache which the pictorial artists of Persia have found a facile medium for the expression of their art in the form of Qalamdans (reed-pen boxes), mirror backs, book covers, Koran-stands, and such like articles; while inseparable from the Qalamdan is the finely engraved seal.
are a valuable asset and source of revenue to the State. In 1868 they were leased, as a monopoly, to a Russian firm, the conces sion being renewed for short periods from time to time until 1906 when a long extension was granted to 1925. The upheaval caused by the World War having, however, resulted in failure on the part of the concessionnaire to pay the royalties, the concession was with drawn by the Persian Government in 1918 and leased to another Russian firm. This lease was short-lived, for the port of Enzeli (Pahlavi), which is the headquarters of the industry, soon after wards fell into the hands of the Soviet authorities and with it the control of the fisheries. It is hoped however as the result of nego tiations which have been in progress (1928) that this rich industry will shortly be restored to the control of the Persian Government.
No such concession or regularized fisheries have been in vogue in the case of the Persian shore of the Persian Gulf. Here the ordinary fishing is unrestricted, and a considerable element of the riparian population take part in the famous pearl fisheries of the Gulf, the small port of Lingah being the chief distributing centre for the Persian shore.
Roads.—The existing roads in Persia may be placed very roughly into four categories : (a) Metalled, i.e., consisting of stones loosely thrown on the surface which the passage of transport is expected to crush into permanent condition—about 70o m.
(d) Natural caravan tracks.
Till the Road-tax law was enacted in 1926, various tolls and municipal taxes were levied on merchandise in transport and sup posedly spent on the roads; but in that year the various imports were replaced by a compounded road-tax leviable at the frontiers on all exports and imports, and the road administration placed under an American engineer. In 1926-27, the Persian Govern ment spent Ł240,000 on the construction of new roads and Ł200, 000 on the repair and maintenance of existing roads. The number of motor lorries in operation had increased from 103 in 1925 to 492 in 1926 and 967 in 1927, while motor cars had increased from 529 to 1,33o in the same period. Motor transport is thus tending to replace pack transport on a few of the principal roads.
The principal constructed roads more or less suitable for heavy as well as light motor-traffic, are as follows :— ( I ) Tehran–Kazvin–Resht–Pahlavi (Enzeli) = 230 m. (This road was constructed by the Russians, but ceded to the Persian Government by treaty in 1921.) (2) Kazvin–Hamadan–Kirmanshah–Qasr Shirin = 38o m.
(3) Tehran–Hamadan, via Nubaran= 204 m.
(4) Tabriz–Julfa–Khoi= 14o m. The first section of this road runs alongside the Tabriz–Julfa railway and would lose some of its utility should the latter be put into running order.
The principal roads of categories (b) and (c), i.e., lightly metalled, or unmetalled, or partly the one and partly the other, but generally passable for light motor traffic, are the following:— (I ) Tehran–Semnan–Damghan–Shah Rud–Nishapur–Meshed = 58 m.
(2) Tehran–Firuzkuh–Aliabad–Meshed-i-Sar; and Aliabad Sari–Bandar Jaz–Astarabad.
(3) Meshed-Kuchan-Ashgabad (Trans-Caspian railway) = i6o m.
(4) Tehran–Qum–Nazar–Dalijan–Isfahan = 287 m.
(5) Isfahan–Yezd-i-Khast–Shiraz= 290 m.
(6) Isfahan–Nain–Yezd–Kerman=400 m.
(7) Isfahan–Sultanabad–Gulpaigan–Hamadan = 267 m.
(8) Kazvin–Zinjan–Mianeh–Tabriz= 270 m.
(9) Meshed–Turbet-i-Haidari–Birjand–Duzdab (Indian rail head) =600 m.
(I o) Bushire–Borasjun–Kazerun–Shiraz =i8o m.
( I I ) Bushire–Bandar Dilam–Hindiyan–Khalafabad–Ahwaz = 55o m. (The Khalafabad and Hindiyan rivers are crossed by pon toon bridges erected by the A.P.O. Co.) (r2) Hamadan–Malayer–Khurramabad =190 m.