'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎192] (201/568)

192 AGEICULTUKE AND LAND TENUEE
the producer. On some lands the tithe was compounded for at a
fixed sum. Thus for the date-plantations on the Shatt el-Arab
Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. introduced a system by which the tax was levied
according to the number of trees, and at rates proportioned to the
distance of the plantations from the river. The number of trees
charged for has been sometimes entirely different from and usually
considerably less than the number of trees in existence. The tithe
on liquorice root was compounded for by a special arrangement with
Constantinople. A fixed sum was also levied on wood that was cut
for sale. Where a fixed assessment had not been made the usual
method employed by the Government was to send round officials
to judge the value of the Government share of the crop, and this
share was then farmed out.
In addition to tithe there were other taxes assessed on agricultural
produce, for war expenditure, for municipal purposes, or for educa
tion. These might amount together to an eighth or a quarter of the
tithe.
Koda, the tax on domestic animals, was a tax which should have
fallen particularly on the nomad tribes but was correspondingly
difficult to collect. It amounted as a rule to half a mejidi per annum
on each camel, buffalo, &c., and 12 rah) piastres per sheep. This tax
was usually farmed out.
The share received by the Government on land represented
the land taxation due to the State, together with the rent due to the
State as landowner. Roughly speaking, this was usually 20 per cent,
on each of these counts or 40 per cent, in all. In cases where on
miri land a share was also paid to the sheikh of the tribe, the
produce might be divided as follows: 20 per cent, for revenue,
20 per cent, for the sheikh, 5 per cent, for the or principal
tenant for management, 15 per cent, for provider of seed, 40 per cent,
for fellah Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. or cultivator. On samyeh land in the Euphrates district
36 per cent, was paid to Abdul Hamid as landlord's share and
revenue combined, and this seems to have been the usual proportion
paid. In the Bogheileh district there was an unusual arrangement
by which the cultivators were responsible for construction and
maintenance of canals, and in return paid only 26 per cent, of the
crops instead of the usual 36 per cent.
The share of the produce claimed by the Government in tapu lands
was usually 20 per cent.; but in some places, as in the Kurna district,
it was 10 per cent, of all grain crops except rice, on which it was
20 per cent. The landowner's share on land is also usually
20 per cent., although in the Euphrates districts it is on certain
estates 40 per cent. The higher rate was allowed by Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.