THE PERSIAN GULF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11873, 27 January 1902, Page 5

THE PERSIAN GULF.

By Telegraph.— Association.— Copyright. (Received January 25, 4.54 p.m.) London, January 25. Lord Cranbourne, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in the House of Commons, stated that the occupation of a seaport in the Persian Gulf by any Power would be inconsistent with the maintenance of the status quo. '

The strategical importance of the Persian Gulf (says the Pilot) lies in the fact that the Power which controls it commands (1) South Persia and Baluchistan, and so threatens our south-west frontier; (2) the Canal route to India, and so threatens one of the most important of our lines of communication; and (3) the whole west coast of_ India, including the two great ports of Karachi and Bombay. The commercial importance of the Gulf may best be illustrated by„ the following statistics. In 1900 its total trade was worth about £5,000,000, of. which about £2,750,000 was British and Indian (the Indian share being . £1,780,000), £127,000 French, £38,000 German, and £572 Russian. In the same year the tonnage which entered the Gulf was 508,075. of which 408,664-' tons were British and 920 French; and the tonnage which cleared it was 4-54-,768, of which 357,184tons were British and 760 French; Germany and Russia being unrepresented.