Page 95 - Gulf Precis(VIII)_Neat

PART IV—CHAPTER XVII.
75
CHAPTER XVII.
Telegraph Station at Fao.

The following provisions are made in the Telegraph • Convention between
Great Britain and Turkey in regard to the
Altchlson’s Treaties, Volumo XI, page 30.
telegraph station at Fao : —

Article 3.
His Majesty the Sultan authorises the establishment on Ottoman territory, at the mouth
of the Shatt-cl-Arab, of a British telegraph office, with a staff, which shall not exceed in
number 50 persons placed under the exclusive orders of a British station master, and
which, as well as the apparatus and all the instruments requisite for working the submarine
line, shall be at the expense of the British Government

Article 4.
The aforesaid British office shall be located in the same building occupied by the
Ottoman station at the mouth of the Shatt-el-Arab, with a view to facilitate the combined
operations of the common service.
The apparatus of the Ottoman service and that of the British service at the joint
station shall be placed in separate compartments, but in close proximity to each other, and
shall not be connected.
The exchange of messages shall take place immediately on their receipt, the officers
handing them to each other through a window, and the service of the British and Ottoman
offices shall be permanent. The rent and cost of maintenance of the mixed telegraphic
station shall be shared in equal proportions by the British and Ottoman Administrations.
A wooden structure of 8 rooms obtained from India was set up for the use of
the telegraph employes at Fao. But when
Political A., April 1865, No*. 114-115.
Political A., April 1865 Not. 116-117. the telegraphic operations began to be in
Political A., May 1865, No. 75 full swing, and the Turkish establishment
Political A , June 1865, No*. 43-44.
was increased, it was found necessary that
a second house should be built. Until this was done, the British office was set up
on the flat Hyderabad. Good deal of obstruction was offered by Namik Pasha
to the building of the second house and references had to be made to Constanti­
nople, with the result that a wooden structure similar to the first was obtained
from India at the cost of the Baghdad Government, and set up near the old
house. The second house was set up, under the orders of the Porte, 30 .yards
apart from the first, and in the centre between the two houses was built an
office, common to both divided by a partition wall with half door for exchange
of messages.
The new building was made over to the British authorities, without, however,
right of ownership either in the structure or the site.
In 1876 repairs were ordered to be executed to the telegraph station at Fao
at a cost of about Rs. 2,500. But the
General A., April 1876, Nos. 23-25.
Telegraph Department did not propose to
recover any portion of it from the Turkish Government, as it would be expended
on the British half of the station only. If the whole station had been repaired,
one-half of the cost would be debitable ^to the Turkish Government under the
terms of the Convention of 1864.
In 1888 the Telegraph Department proceeded to make the following repairs
to the station, which they considered abso­
External A., July 1888, Nos. 364-386^.
lutely necessary —
(i) to strengthen the compound wall with stone and mud, in order to
prevent the buildings from being flooded.
(ii) to build the foundations of the walls of the mud out-houses and go-
down of stone, to prevent them being destroyed by water
C163FD