'Mesopotamia' [‎68v] (136/152)

ECONOMIC ( ONDITIONS
rNo- 92
maries of some of the conclusions arrived at have
already been given.
The future of Mesopotamia depends upon four con
ditions : —
(1) Security of administration, and a sympathetic
attitude on the part of the Government to the
economic needs of the country.
(2) The increase of the cultivable area by the crea
tion of a system of irrigation capable of expan
sion as the needs of the population require.
(3) The capacity of the inhabitants to undertake
the heavy work which the proper development
of the country will involve.
(4) The improvement of means of communication.
Of these conditions the first may be assumed, and the
question of the improvement of means of communica
tions has been dealt with under the headings of naviga
tion and railways. The economic capacity of the in
habitants is at present an unknown factor, but the con
clusions arrived at by competent observers (see pp. 42,
71) are supported by the following extracts from a
report on the prosperity of the Euphrates w T hich
appeared in the Times of May 1. 1918 :—
During the summer we have been at work on the irrigation
scheme connected with the Hindieh barrage. The barrage,
which was designed by Sir William Willcocks and constructed
by Sir John Jackson's firm, was finished before the war, hut
the Turk neglected to profit by it. The canalisation work con
nected with it was left incomplete, and the area to be cultivated
was never brought under irrigation.
This year nearly a hundred canals on the Hilleh branch,
which had fallen into disuse, have been dug out, 300,(XX) acres
have been brought under cultivation, and there is promise of
the greatest harvest in the memory of man, possibly the
greatest since the days of Nebuchadnezzar.
But the Shatt el-Hilleh developments are only part of the
scheme. For several years the land on both banks of the
Hindieh branch below the barrage down to Kifil has been out
of cultivation, as the canals provided in the Willcocks scheme
to irrigate that area were neglected. We were not long in
getting to work at them. In May, as soon as the Tigris opera
tions were completed, we began to open posts on the