Page 234 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

20S Part III.
1G5-A. With regard to the capacity of tho Turkish Government to under-
take Hie postal scrvico on tho Tigris, wo
Secret E, August 1883, N«». 313-413, (No. 401.)
have on our records a memorandum drawn
up by Dr.* Bowman sent to Mr. Wyndham by Colonel Tweedio on 13th July
1883, which is quoted bolow :—
Memorandum regarding the steamers plying between Baghdad and Basrah under the name of
the Oman-Otloinan Administ rationally.
Tho Oman-Ottoman Company, purely a Hovornment concern, had iln foundation in the
steamers Baghdad and Basrah which prior to 1809, wore entirely used for Government pur*
poics, vie., transput of troops, dispatches and the subjection of tho numorous Arab tribes
on tho Kuphratos and Tigris. During Namyk Pashnh's administration of the Wilaiat of
Baghdad, ho ordered t ho three steamers, Mosul Phrat and 1lesafa to bo built at Antworp.
Tluyarrivcd here in *1869, and have since boon added tn by (ho stcamora Telafa and
AIe>kna which coraplcto the (loot of seven vessels.
PcHllca! A, November 1670, No. 170.
2. Since 1869 commencing under Modhat Pesha’a administration, these steamers Iutc
been chiefly usod for commercial purposes : but owing to tho want of proper supervision in the
form of officers and engineers, they have all fallen into a state of inellicicncy and disrepair. To
give examples 1 may point nut that tho Baghdad has been for two months lying at Amrah
disabled ; the Mosul was laid up in a Bturnh from August 1882 until Juno 1883, and the
Resaja which has been stationary for some time at Baghdad, owing to defects in her boiler
lubes, bni this day, iu the absence of any other available steamer, been brought down to the
Custom House to receive cargo for Bnsrah. As a further example, the Muskenak left Besmh
on Sunday, the 8th instant, twenty-four hours before the English Company's 6teamcr
Med/idieh, which latter vessel passed the Turkish stcamors within twenty-four hours steaming;
iu fact, owing to the inefficiency of these steamers, and want of * management/ there is no
certainty as to their arrival or departure.
3. Begading the management of these steamers j during tho time I was Acting Consul
at Busrnh in 1879, they were under the direction of the Commodore of the Imperial Ottoman
Navy ; but before and since they have been miner numerous direc tions. At present a certain
Sarri Effendi is Chief Malinger. (In passing ] may mention this official lias held various
appointments in this Bankable ; ono of the most important of which was that of Mutasarif of
Amarh:in connection with which, he was suspended and imprisoned for about eighteen
months, chnrgcd with misappropriation of Government monies : on his release, he was
unemloyed for some time until appointed to his present charge by the new Governor-General
Taki-ud-Din Pasha.) The direction o( the Company's affairs has never been really efficient-,
and the steamers arc almost always without co.-il (except what they can borrow from the
English Company), and have constantly left Baghdad with only sufficient wood to carry them
a short distance down the river ; trusting entirely to chance to take them further on. All
the employes arc several months'pay in arrears ; and the administration is on the whole in
debt nearly £ 10,000 principally due tn Messrs. Asfar and Company of this city and Busrah
for coal supplied by the French Steam Navigation Com| any plying between Marseilles and
Busrah. This cannot he due absence of receipts or revenue; because during 1S79 Messrs.
Lynch and Company, the Euphrates an l Tigris Steam Navigation Company, tried to add to
their carrying power by employing l»; rjes, to be towed wish their a!camera, and which barges
were amply employed every voyage fi r some months until stopped by order of tho Sublime
Perte. For over three years, these barges have been employed on the Tigris ; and during this
time, to my pcis.innl knowledge, 1-1 ere has frequently occurred a serious accumulation of
Cargo iu Busrah, owing to tho insufficient carrying capacity of tho steamers, both Turkish and
English, ou the river, which clearly in my opinion proves that the present bankrupt stage of the
Oman-Ottoman steamers is duo more to maladministration, and which the abovo circum­
stances lend to show, than t3 want of cargo: as since the opening of the Sue 7. Canal commerce
between ICuropo and Turkish Arabia lias increased to an enormous extent, and is still rapidly
increasing: in confirmation of this, I may mention that a firm of Baghdad Jewish merchants
have recently appliid for, and obtained from the Sublime Porte, a ounces Jon to run steamers
between this and Busrah, under the Turkish Hag! and I believe the scheme basso far advanced
that the steamers were ordered tn be built at Antwerp; proving that, notwithstanding the
presence of tho Euphrates and Tigris Sicam Navigation Company in addition to the Ornm-
Ottoman, tiler* i* still ample employment for y**t another line; and I may add that during
the last fow years several applications have been made to the Subliino Porte by merchants ot
vaiiuos nationalities to dceuiea similar concession.
1G6. Tho Government of India (Foreign Department No. 1002-0., datecl
23rd April 1831, to tho Political Resident replied that it was undesirable jus
then to alter existing arrangements for the carriage of Turkish official letters by
British mail steamers outside Turkish Arabia and in regard to the other
questions dealt with by tho Consul-General, forwarded a report on tho subjc^

• From Colonel Kei«bill*i rcporl, in dcipatcb No. 28.'dated 5th August 1803, It appear* tli»t the 8,““cr'
or .finally micuiKii by Nannk l'a-lia f..r communication between llilkt and Delia or Kalao Jouor. lU0
tilcml Tu*liili voulrgl over Kuplirjtu Arab tribe*,