'Report on the Development of Mesopotamia with Special Reference to the Regeneration of the River Systems' [‎14] (20/50)

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Tigris Navigation Works.
Sir William also proposes certain works for the improvement of navigation on
tlie Tigris, which are discussed in a later paragraph of this report.
Sir William Willcocks's scheme discussed.
(27) To summarize, Sir William Willcocks's scheme comprises the irrigation
of 3J million acres at a total capital cost of £T. 29,000,000 or say 26 million pounds
sterling, and he estimates a profit on the whole under-taking of 24-9 per cent.,
and on the irrigation works of 9 per cent.
Apart from the fact that the project is mainly a revival on modern lines of old
and worn-out irrigation systems, one radical defect in the scheme to my mind is
that apparently Sir William Willcocks accepts as a permanency the present
degenerate state of the rivers, and leaves the vast swamps in Lower Mesopotamia
spreading ruin and desolation over large areas of country. It may be that his
treatment of the subject is the best, but the scheme must be condemned if the
regeneration of the rivers and the re-formation of the drainage of the country,
on natural lines, is practicable, and that, I submit, is a subject which has
neither been investigated nor discussed up to the present.
(28) Another matter which deserves more consideration than it has at present
received is the question of population. In the two neighbouring countries of
India and Egypt where extensive irrigation works have been carried out, there has
been a teeming population waiting to form irrigation colonies the moment the
water was available. The population of Egypt is 1,000 per square mile; the
Indian Punjab, 177 per square mile ; Bengal, 540 per square mile ; and Burma,
the least populated province of India, has 45 per square mile : but in Mesopotamia
the population is only 10 per square mile, consisting chiefly of untamed nomadic
tribes who—from all accounts—would bitterly resent the intrusion of peaceful
colonists.
(29) Sir William Willcocks has visions of labourers from Kurdistan flocking
down from the hills, digging canals, constructing weirs and regulators, and then
settling down in hundreds of thousands to reclaim and cultivate the land. But
when his scheme is looked at in the cold light of finance, I am of opinion that
a more substantial guarantee will be required, and that the works will probably
be begun on a very small scale. Possibly, in the first instance, the waters of the
Euphrates alone will be used for irrigation, and, as pointed out by Sir William
Willcocks, these waters can be made to irrigate the whole area capable of irriga
tion between Felujah and Kut, and also all the lands on both the Hillah and
Hindia branches.
if) SUGGESTIONS FOR RIVER REGENERATION.
(30) Whether the rivers be used for navigation, or their waters for irrigation,
I am of opinion that their regeneration and re-constitution as the main drainage
channels of the country is the first desideratum ; and to that end I make the follow
ing suggestions which are, of course, subject to confirmation or otherwise when
proper surveys have been carried out.
River Tigris.
(31) The objects to be aimed at are—-
[i) The retention of the flood waters within the river banks, so far as possible.
{ii) The regeneration of the river between Amara and Kurnah.
(m) The retention of existDg systems of irrigation until supplanted by per
manent works.