Page 246 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

220 Part III.

(xi) Mail contracts with the Euphrates and Tigris Navigation
Company) 1862-96.
200. The steamer mailsorvicc between Basrah and Baghdad was opened in
18G2 undor an agreement of the Secretary of State with Mows. Lynch and Co.
as representing the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company. The ser­
vice was then maintained by a six-weekly steamer botween Basrah and Baghdad.
For several years, besides receiving a Government subsidy of £2,<100, the Company
onjoved a monopoly of the river trade, as until the establishment of a Turkish
flotilla on the Tigris about 1807, tlio only competition tho Euphrates and Tigris
Company had to contend with was that of Arab boats. These boats, some of
them of 30 tons burden, took from 30 to 40 days to track from Basrah to
Baghdad, while the river steamer performed the journey in from four to five days
according to the season of the year.
207. In 1866 the Secretary of State doubled the subsidy of tho Euphrates
and Tigris Company, making it £4,800 a year in return for a fortnightly ser­
vice, and of their own accord tho Company ran their steamers three times a month,
calling at Kut, Ourdi, Koorud, Kut-el-Ahmarah and other villages on the
banks of the river, to meet the great passenger and freight traffic.
208. As early ns 1SG9-70 the TurkishSteamer Company made some endea­
vours to obtain the English subsidy for the carriage of mails, but actual negotia­
tions were never entered into. I n connection with this tho Consul-General, Bagh­
dad, represented that tho Turkish steamers were irregular and the Company ill-
managed and not to bo relied upon, and that there were strong political grounds
why the English Company which had done so much under tho English flag to
open up tho coinmerco of Mesopotamia should receive the support of Gov­
ernment.
209. In January 1876 a fresh contract was entered into with tho Tigris Com­
pany by the Secretary of State, to termi­
General A., Dccembor 1876. No. 4.
nate on the 31st December 1SS4. Messrs.
Lynch & Co. undertook to run a steamer three times a month on a subsidy of
£3,600 or £1,200 less than the subsidy received under the previous contract.
The Ottoman Government bad all along steadily refused to allow Messrs Lynch
& Co. to run more than two steamers on the Tigris. It was, however, provided
in this contract that the Company were bound to provide a weekly service to
Baghdad at tho further reduced rate of £2,400, provided they were allowed to
run a third steamer, the reason of this clause being that could Government
induce tho Sublime Porte to consent to a third steamer, the return in passen­
gers and freight would more than compensate the Company for the loss in
subsidy and the expense of the accelerated service.
210. A firman for the third steamer was never obtained, but in 1878, with-
outany alteration in the terms of the con tract and with the two steamers to which
they were limited, tho Company established by onergy and good management
a weekly service which still continues unimpaired.
211. In the following year oblivious of Ottoman obstruction a scheme was
being formed for further opening up the waters of the Tigris by English steamers,
provided tho necessary firman could be obtained from tho Sublime Porte.
Mr. Lynch, Chairman of the Euphrates and Tigris Company, wrote on the 9th
June 1879 in reference to this projectThe propriety of extending the
sorvice to Mosul and also opening up
General A., 1873, No. 70.
communications on adjacent rivers is now
occupying the attention of the Company.” And on the 13th October following
Colonel Miles, Consul-General at Baghdad, wrote:—“ The commerce of tho
Tigris is capable of indefinite expansion and there is no doubt the Company
could obtain a vast deal more cargo for their vessels than they get at present
had they tho means of carrying it. The demand for freight indeed is so much
in excess of tho supply that they ore enabled to charge as much per ton from
Baghdad to Basrah and vice versa as ocean steamers can obtain from Basrah
to London. The firman however was not obtainod and tho scheme does not
appear to have got beyond the stage of discussion.