S i Petersburg Gazette* is right, when it sees much to
deplore in the present condition of the Russo-Asiatic
trade. All the expectations of a large and profitable
trade with Central Asia, which were raised, it says, by
the conquest of Turkistan, have been doomed to disappointment,
and it has been found that Russians
cannot compete with the English, whose goods, it is
affirmed, fill the caravansaries of Bokhara, Ferghana,
and Samarkand. In a report published by the Russian
finance ministry, it is shown that between the years
1851 and 1881 the balance of Central Asian trade has
turned to the disadvantage, of Russia. Thus the
exports from Russia to Central Asia—
In 1851 amounted to
In 1861 „ ,,
In 1871 ,, ,,
In 1881 ,, ,,
¿1,114,029
1,345,812
890,402
1,306,700
Black Tea .
Green Tea .
Brick Tea .
Sugar
Sand Sugar
Candies
Russian Honey .
Native Grape Honey .
Dried and fresh Fruit.
Stationery .
Spirits, Wine and Brandy
Spices and Narcotics .
Drugs and Medicaments
Dyes . ’
Native Tobacco .
Russian Manufactured Tobacco
Cigars and Cigarettes
Tin (pewter?)
Lead .
Mercury
Copper
Chinese (?) Copper
Copper in manufacture
Iron .
Sheet Iron .
Iron in manufacture
Steel .
Cast Iron ware .
Scythes, Sickles, etc.
£
56,766
28,787
2,527
I7.234 2,917
2,190
575
46,589
5,569
9,101
62,.513825
23,428
4.125
8,245
719
1983
170
9,801
826
4,3i4 13.572
3.611
4,061
639
5.913
1,708
Leather in manufacture
Russian Soap
Native Soap
Tallow . ' .
Oil
Stearine Candles
Tallow Candles .
Clover Seed
Various Seed 7
Poppy Husks
Rice and other Grain .
Vegetables .
Fish . . . .
Various Utensils
Writing Paper .
Articles of Stationery.
Wood-work
Carriages .
Printed Books and MSS
Glass . . . . .
Silver (Khokands and Yambs)
Haberdashery
Various
Sundry small wares .
Bread Stuffs, etc.
Timber, etc.
Cattle. .
£
44.737
465
435
2,402
728 3.OO4
252
37I
I73
592
210
IO
180
4,298
2 ,190
262
7.904
98
1,076
558
432
IO,28o 10,535
16,689
25,741
8,946
109,334
Total £1.397.982
2nd, 5th, and 9th January, N.S. i£
T A SH K EN D .
whilst, on the other hand, the imports have steadily
increased, thus :—
In 1851 they amounted to
In 1861 ,, ,,
In 1871 ,, ,,
lni8Sl .. H
;£r>573-483
2-213.934
1,592,994
3,119,000
In the year 1882, the value of imports from Central
Asia amounted to ¿3.3°°,000. Thus, on her eastern
as well as on her western frontier, Russia imports far
more than she exports, paying the balance in gold.
The St. Petersburg Gazette expects to see English
manufactures penetrating through Central Asia, unless
the Russian trade is better conducted.
Among the causes militating against the interests
of Russian trade in Central Asia are said to be the
defective means of communication. “ Russian merchandise
is despatched into the Steppe in the most
primitive fashion, and the firm sending the goods
sometimes hears nothing of them for a year. The
goods are priced high, and the system is chiefly credit. ’
The agents sent with the caravans are said “ mainly to
seek their own profits, to defraud their employers, and
impose unscrupulously upon the Asiatics, all which
tends to involve the native population in debt and to
impoverish it.” How far all this is true I know not,
but it is instructive to. see that the panacea proposed
by the Gazette is the formation of a Russian company
that shall vie with English commercial houses.
On leaving the bazaar in Asiatic Tashkend we
returned to the Russian quarter of the town to visit
the seminary for training schoolmasters, and here we
met the Vice-Governor. There were 55 pupils, 11 of
whom were Kirghese. The institution reminded me
of one similar I visited in 1879 at Kasan, where youths
v ° l . 1. s30n