ENGLAND, RUSSIA, AND PERSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 33, 7 February 1903, Page 4

ENGLAND, RUSSIA, AND PERSIA.

■ I The Times 1 Odessa correspondent, "ites utder date 27th November--I *V. n ai , t:cl « enti led «The Termina- '* J* &n able p >litic*3 conEuropean _ jr- > . , tribacci' to tb« Mo** * v ™<tomo S ti has much of interest; to say present Anglo-Russian question in Pei Sui. The article should bj particularly interesting to Englishman as a competent expression of Russian views in regard to Persia, in tha 1 ; it tot fines iter scope almost solely to acmsio'eratidi of British and Russian coniiaew-ial interests and influence in Persia. Up to the btgin- | nicg of 1897 Russia was (tbe writer

tays) practical >y cut ofl from facile communication with her sou'hern neighbour. With tba continuation of the wheel road from Enzeli to Teheran, however, and with the improvements of other routes, a marked change suddenly made itself fe't in the economic rolaof Kufsia and Persia. If anyooe doub'ri this statement (adds the writer) let him pon<Jsr over the statistics published in thß TvrtW On the authority cf the Persian Customs statistic?, During the List 10 Russia's with Persia' has incresssd by 125 per cent.; while England's trade with Persia during th-3 same period has df' creased by about 33 "per cent. Though a c rtain well-infotmad English trade organ recently showed that the principal increase in Russia's trade with

Persia is, tl anks to the Russian rebate on such goods, to be credired to cotton and kindred fab.-ica which previou-ly found a ready sale by English manufactures, and though this organ proves by means of figures that British imports of these fab-ics decreased 40 per cent, during the firs'; eight months of the present year, the writer in Viedomosli asserts that ha is perfectly convince! ihit England is losing the Persian market, not only iu such fabiics, but all round, and he believes that were it not for tbe proximity of India on the one hand, and an old es-

tablished sea trade through the Persian Guif on the other, British trade would be driven out of other markets in Persia bf sides th 9 market for piece goods. He supports bis assertion by reproducing tho comparative figures for distances, freight*, and number of diys for delivery adduced by tbe special corresponding of the Times in a recent article. He shows by means of thesa figures how tbe E z-ii-Re3ht-road, of comparatively receat construe!ion, has alrtady done splendid service in the interest of Russia trade, and how caravans can bo dsspa'ched right through to MesheJ for the Kborasan markets, thanks to tha proximity of the TransCaspian railway, which runs close along the eastern tord rof PersU. He adds significmtly that at a future date, wi'h the coiitiaua 1 ion of the wheel roid from Tabriz to Kszvit), which will link up with the road from Reshfc to Kazvin, Russian good* will command au even firmer auu kc ; , than they do at the present time, wli' ii Western Persia is little accessible to Russ : an traders in consequence of tho abicn.e of good facilities for communication."