Page 261 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

Chapter XII. 235
(x) Behaviour of the Turkish Police towards the Comet, 1893-91.
281. In Decomber 1893 tho Comet proccodcd down to Basrah, and there,
under an appointment made previously,
External K-, March 1801, No* C5-71.
got its two old Nordcnfclt ‘i5*5 barrel
machine guns exchanged for two similar guns Martini-Henry, brought on board
tho Lawrence. As it was also necessary to examine the bottom of the ship,
it was hauled up the shore. The Turkish authorities wero given overy oppor­
tunity to see tho guns. When tho Turkish officers came, the guns had not been
mounted, and so tho boxes were partly opened and parts of tho guns shown
to them.
282. Nevertheless when the Comet was proceeding up the river, attempts
External A , May 1804. No*. 70-77. were mado by tho Turkish Police to stop
External A., June •S'Jl, No*. 209 210. tho ship, and threats ottered to fire nt throe
different places. The Commander refused to comply with their demands. It
appears that the Vali of Basrah had given orders to tho Turkish Polico to watch
the ship. The order was silly enough, but the way tho police carried it out
was a demonstration of puerile insolence, which only could be possible in a
barbarous country. When representations were mado to the Vali, he ex­
pressed his incredulity of the report, and tho Governor-General of Baghdad
expressed his rogret at tho incidents. Colonel Mockler, in writing to tho
British Ambassador, expressed his opiuion that tho matter was tod trivial a
one to be taken further notico of.

(xi) Navigability of the Tigris, 1899.
2S3. Of lato the difficulties of navigating the Tigris-^espccially between
Kurna and Amara, and between Kot and
External A., Jnnc 1899, No*. 75-82.
Baghdad—have been increasing more and
more, by the shallowness of the stream, caused especially by the numberless cuts
made by the Arabs for absorbing the river into the adjacent Gelds or by the
Sultan’s Agents for irrigating the crown lands, as these cuts being made facing
the downward flow of the stream they widen rapidly and draw more water than
required and convert the country into marshes. In order to prevont this and
improve tho navigability of the river, tho Lynch Company proposed in 1899 —
(1) that pressure should be brought to boar upon the Porte with a view
to pay immediate attention to the state of the river, especially
between Amara and Kurna and tako measures for closing the
more dangerous of the cuts and insist on cuts being made so as
to face down the stream;
(2) that an Engineer of the Indian Government (to be paid in equal
proportions by the Indian and Home Governments; should be
allowed to the Consulate-General to advise as to the works
required and supervise them.
281. The Company also wedged in their old claim for distinct permission
being obtained to use barges in iow water season or preferably to make use of
their third steamer.
285. These proposals wero referred to the Government of India for opinion.
Colonel Loch, who was consulted, discus­
Itid, No. 81.
sed in his report dated 26th April 1899
the various measures required for putting the diilorent parts of the river,
between Baghdad and Kurna into a properly navigable state and dwelt upon
the enormous cost, which such measures would entail, which the Porte would
be far from being ablo to meet, lie pointed out that ovon if tho funds for so
vast an undertaking were forthcoming and the Sultan were, for tho sake of
tho improvement of tho Tigris, to c -nsent to some modification on the irrigation
of his crown lands, tho Ottoman Government would still have to count upon the
opposition of the Arab tribes.