Page 164 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

-10-

the 216 shares in this land were registered by the Land Settle-
ment Board in the name of the As Subah and possession of the 180
shares to which the As Subah were unable to establish a valid
claim did in faot passed to the heirs of All bin Zuhair in 1938,

Various possible lines of action v/ere considered to enable
the Shaikh to regain possession of these estates or to obtain
their original purchase price from the present owners but it was
considered that none of them offered sufficient chance of success

to justify the trouble and expense of once again embarking on
lengthy legal proceedings in Iraq, However it seems that the
heirs of Ali Zuhair were not content with their 180 shares and

appealed against the Land Settlement Board*s decision registering
36 shares in the name of the As Subah and the Euler has entered
a counter appeal with, I fear, but little hope of success.
(*) The Baddaghiya estate has been registered in the name of

the As Subah by the Land Settlement Board but an appeal has been
lodged the hearing of which is proceeding with the usual lack
of celerity before the Court of Appeal in 3aghdad. The case has

been adjourned four times owing to defects in the Euler's Power
of Attorney and from other causes attributable to the negligence
of the Euler's Counsel, and five times owing to procrastination
on the part of the opposing Counsel.

(C) The Bao estates are still before the Land Settlement
Board but there seems little reason to doubt that the major
portion of the estates will be registered in the name of the

As Subah though the question of "lazma" larai is causing some
concern.
VIII. UIM QASR.
This site of an ancient fort of which nothing now re­

mains but a heap of rubble, bordered on the east by the muddy
Khors Zubair and Abdullah has achieved undue prominence owing to

the Military Authorities' decision to build a port there. This is
no new project for there have been political exchanges from time
to time