Item CR9/18/16 - Letter from Mubariz al-Mulk Bahadur to Clive.

Thank you for your reply to my letter in which I had pointed out about my earlier request to the East India Company that it was necessary to establish a custom post at Azimabad so that our inspectors could examine the ships registers and check the goods carried by each ship and then charge custom duty accordingly. At present the custom posts at Bakhsh Bandar, Hoogly and Azimabad yield some income while others do not. After a general order was issued and concessions to the Dutch, the French and the English companies were restored things have improved considerably. However, the English have been unhappy about this ruling and have been avoiding paying custom duties on one pretext or another. It is necessary from now onward that all ships registers are examined at custom posts and custom duty is charged on any excess goods. -- Enclosure: Draft of a letter addressed to the Dutch and the French Companies. -- We have considered your complaints against our custom officers as well as against the ships crews that they take their ships without entering details of goods in their registers and thus avoid paying custom duty. In order to remedy your complaints and those of the customs officials it has been decided that before departing each ship should enter details of goods in their registers and pay their custom duties. Any ship going to Kharba should stop at the custom post of Shivrampore; the ones going to Azimabad via Murshidabad should be examined at the custom post of Qasim Bazar. Ships departing from Azimabad via Khurbah and Murshidabad to Hoogly should do the same. Ships departing from Jahangirnagar should be examined at Shah Bandar and if a ship departs from Jahangirnagar to go to Hoogly it should stop at the customs posts of Jalangi and Shivrampore. Ships departing from Jahangirnagar and going to Azimabad should be examined at Nazirpore and Rajmajal, etc.