154 



COTTON TEXTILES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



MERSINE. 

 Importations of British cotton textiles at Mersine fron 1he year 1878 to 1888. 



TOTALS. 



Bales 108,170 



Weight tons.. 113,410 



Cost - $5,328,000 



UNITED STATES CONSULAR AGENCY, 



Mersine, September 1, 1889. 



WM. DAWSON, 

 Consular Agent. 



SYRIA. 



REPORT BY CONSUL BISSINGER,* OF BEIRUT. 



I have the honor to submit the inclosed answers to the interrogations 

 contained in cotton circular. It is proper to state, however, that much 

 difficulty was encountered in the effort to collect approximately correct 

 and reliable data and material for this report, owing to the reluctance 

 on the part of merchants, importers, and commission-houses to impart 

 information concerning this industry, for fear of prejudicing their own 

 business thereby; and official statistics, as it will be remembered are 

 not accessible in Syria. Even if they were procurable they would be of 

 comparatively little value in a report like this on account of the rather 

 confused and imperfect manner of keeping the records of the custom- 

 house. Notwithstanding these obstacles, it is confidently believed that 



the inclosed statements are as correct and true an exhibit of all the 



. , . 



* Consul Bissinger, under date of October 24, 1889, calls the attention of the De- 

 partment to a paragraph which has just appeared in the Official Gazette of the Beirut 

 Vilayet to the effect that " Pursuant to a decision hy a special council of ministers, an 

 imperial irade* had been issued exempting all cotton, woolen, and kindred textiles 

 produced in the imperial Ottoman dominions from customs duties when transported 

 from one place in the Turkish Empire to another." 



To fully comprehend this discrimination in favor of domestic tissues it is necessary 

 to state that heretofore all textiles shipped from one point in the Empire to another, 

 including Egypt, were subject to 4 per cent, export duty, and 1 per cent, when sent 

 to foreign countries. 



