'File 53/33 II (D 15) Koweit Baghdad Railway' [‎15r] (42/210)

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the chenpness of German manufactures, a current of feeling may set in
hostile, if not directly antagonistic, to British interest. Tiie>e would, perhaps,
be best served if we undertook the task of making some portion of the railway
ourselves, and if we controlled and managed the southern sec ions of the line
from Bagdad to Bussorah and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , as well as the bianch line
to Khanikin on the Persian frontier.
The other points mentioned are beyond my province, and I feel very
incompetent to express any opinion on them.
Mohammerah and Persia —As regards Mohammerah and Persia, generally
the Karun is, of course, the chief base of operations for tne future develop
ment of trade routes from the South of Persia, whether the line taKen is
Shuster Khoremabad and Bunrjird, connecting through Sultanabad with the
carriage road between Kum and Tehran, or whether traffic follows the Lynch
road across the Bakhtiari Mountains to Isfahan. The difficulties attending
animal transport in Persia are only too well known, and although the
Ahwaz-Isfahan route is 253 miles shorter than that from Bushire to Isfahan,
the road in either case crosses mountains of great altitude, and there are
always the same road obsracles for heavily loaded mules. Under these
circumstances it seems probable that the opening of the Bagdad Hallway
with a terminus on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and a branch line from Bagdad to
Khanikin, will cause a deflection in sea-borne imports from the Karun route
to that via Bagdad and Khanikin, where they will have easier and more
rapid access to the northern and central Persian market^ As the line will
be connected with Eastern and Central Europe, Khanikin will be brought
into touch with other centres of trade, and the result may well be that Isfahan
and Northern Persia will ultimately be supplied with continental goods
at less cost than that at which sea-borne British goods are now imported.
In other words, the Bagdad Railway may close the Karum route for foreign
imports, in so far as Northern and Central Persia are concerned.
Anything which tends to emancipate trade from the intense conservatism
of the Persian muleteer, who now controls the carrying trade of the country,
must be to the general advantage, and although a railway as far as Khanikin
would not enable us to dispense with mule transport for our imports beyond
that point there would be a considerable saving of time and distance, which
should to some extent compensate us for the closing of other routes to imported
trade. The export of wheat in good seasons was an important^ feature in the
estimate of future traffic on the Karun Biver, and I do not think the Bagdad
Railway will adversely affect the development of a region which is justly
considered capable of becomingr one ot the granaries of Uie world. If the
German Company, by virtue of the powers conferred on it by Article '^3 of
the Concession, undertakes the dredging of the bar at the estuary of the Shatt-
ul -Arab, which I fear is not likely, the grain export trade of the Karun will
derive considerable benefit from the operation.
British trade with Persia by the Khanikin route, which is now estimated
roushly at three-quarters of a million, would surely benefit by the construction
of the railway, unless, indeed, our trade were subjected to differential treatment
which it should be in our power to prevent. The Khanikin branch will collect
the great passenger traffic of the Shiite pilgrims who visit the sacred shrines at
Kerbela and Nedjef.
Fersian Gulf—In the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. the following points appear to me to
affect British interests :—
(a) The choice of a terminus.
(b) The transmission of mails to India by the Bagdad Railway,
(c) The potential dangers in a trans* continental highway towards India.
(d) The stipulation in the Concession regarding the delay in constructing
the Gulf section until the Constantinople-Bagdad sections are completed,
which operates clearly in restraint of British trade.
It was stated in 1902 that "we sought no material advantages for ourselves
in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , beyond those which British trade and shipping could reap
from the freedom and security of commerce and navigation in open competition
^ith the rest of the world,"
5351 F. D, I