'Mesopotamia' [‎40r] (79/152)

Mesopotamia] PGR lb
Before the war there was no accommodation for
steamers, and the loading and unloading ut caigoes
was done in the river by means of lighters and native
craft. The inadequacy of the service of river steamers
for the forwarding of goods up-country gave much
ground for complaint, especially during the low-water
season, as goods had often to remain at Basra for so
long that the market at Baghdad was lost, and con
signees were compelled to store goods until the lollow-
ing year. In 1906 as much as 3,000 tons ot cargo \\ere
lying at one time at Basra awaiting trans -shipment
by the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Co.
Matters were subsequently improved by the grant of
permission to Lynch Brothers to run an extra steamei.
A further source of complaint has been the Turkish
Customs House at Basira. Until the completion in
1913 of the new Customs House (the construction ot
which was begun in 1905), the old Customs House had
been left untouched for 25 years, and much damage
was done to cargo owing to its inadequacy and
bad state of repair. Since the military occupation
wharves have been built, where vessels can lie alongsi e
and discharge their cargoes at all states of the tide,
whilst there is mooring accommodation in the river
opposite Basra for 24 sea-going steamers.
The future of Basra depends upon the removal ot the
bar at the mouth of the Shatt el-Arab, so as to make
the river navigable by large vessels at all states oi the
tide. Assuming that this is done, and that Mesopo
tamia is placed under the control of a Power which wui
foster its development upon right lines, Basra has a
great future before it. Sir George Buchanan, in a
report upon ithe development of Basra as a port, has
expressed the view that, given the conditions mentioned
above:— . „
(i) Basra will become the principal seaport ot Persia
as well as of Mesopotamia.
(ii) The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ports will be largely served by
coasting steamers from Basra rather than from Europe
or India direct;