'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎193] (202/568)

AGrRICULTUEE AND LAND TENURE 198
deilnti,
kit i'lj at the time when the land was sold, owing to the need of consider-
iwasldii able expenditure of capital on the canal system by the new owners.
The Land
n m ^
In Irak the opposition between the Turkish Government's theory
of land tenure on the one hand and tribal custom and sentiment on
the other has created a land question which has caused much trouble
^ / in the past and still remains to be settled.
Fifty years ago there was little private property in land. Almost
the whole country was divided into tribal areas, and where tribes
chose to cultivate the Government took its tithe, if it could, or
else did not interfere. But agriculture was in a very backward
state. Few of the ancient canals were cleared, and it was obvious
that intelligent control and management were needed if the country
was to be developed. In the view of the Turkish Government the
soil occupied by the tribes was the property of the State. Starting
from this theory Mid hat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , when vali of Baghdad, conceived
the idea that both the prosperity of the country and the Govern
ment's revenue might be increased by the sale to individuals of
proprietary rights in cultivated or cultivable land (especially in
the neighbourhood of the Euphrates) under conditions that would
encourage the development of agriculture. The propi'ietors were to
arrange for the clearance and maintenance of the canals and were to
help their tenants to tide over bad seasons ; in return they would
receive a large share of the profits. Thus the system of land
tenure already described was created. Midhat apparently hoped
that the tribal sheikhs would purchase on these terms the lands
occupied by their people. On the lower Euphrates the Sa'dun, the
ruling clan of the Muntefiq, seem to have accepted the position of
Eupbial®^ proprietors. Elsewhere the sheikhs were generally very unwilling
[d's st® to buy, as they distrusted the Government's intentions. Some of
jusiulpf' the tribes, fearing that the scheme meant that they were to be
. alatiff 1 strictly governed and made liable for military service, took alarm
jptlsi and fled for a time into the desert. Capitalists from the towns were
pjrceiiti at first afraid of taking up land in face of tribal hostility, but as the
country was brought more under control the acquisition of
en t jjlfl' estates became more attractive to them. In the Hilla district
, m K a stimulus to investment in land was given by Abdul Hamid, who
acquired several large estates here and set about developing them.
■ ; In one way or another a great deal of land, especially along the
nd I s
, bY pP| —
^ ' MES. I N
. ]S 0ll if Euphrates, became private property of the class. And so it
1 j|utl came about that the tribes found themselves in the position of rent-