File 2764/1904 Pt 2 'Baghdad Railway: General negotiations 1908-10.' [‎13r] (34/799)

^ is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government .]
BAGDAD RAILWAY.
SECRET.
/4
vcf '' :
[May 23.]
Section 1,
[18149] No. 1.
Sir G. Lowther to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received May 23.)
(No. 316.)
Sir, Pera, May 17, 1910.
WITH reference to my despatches Nos. 270 and 280 of the 3rd and 6th instant
respectively, I have the honour to forward to you herewith some notes on the actria
state of the work on the Bagdad Railway which have been made by Mr. Mounsey, who
was recently travelling in the district between Konia and Adana.
I have, &c.
GERARD LOWTHER.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Notes on Journey from Eregli to Adana.
THE line is completed to Boulgourlou, but open only to Eregli ; from Boulgourlou
on to Bozanti there are engineers and undertakers camping along the whole route.
Some Italian engineers stated that the way was levelled on from Boulgourlcu to
Ouloukishla, all easy country, but no rails are laid, and they added that the original
trace for the portion from the latter place to Bozanti, which covers the mountainous
portion, has had to be slightly revised ; the inspection was going on, the new trace
would be ready in two months—must then be sent to Frankfort for approval, and ^ YOr -^
could not begin until end of June or July. The whole section to Adana is calculated
by ofhciala and optimists to require three years for completion, by the undertakers, Ac.,
on the spot, five years. Meanwhile men are at work building small stone houses at the
spots chosen for stations along this section, where there is practically no accommodation
^ At Adana, where many undertakers and job-men were collected, ihei 6 was rr [ 10
work doing, but quantities of rails and rolling stock are being accumulated thei e. _ e
company’s private telegraph line had just been completed to Adana from Eregli, and
was being carried on to Hamidieh and Osmanieh. . T .
It is perhaps worthy of note that since the Adana-Mersma line has come into
German hands (70 per cent, of the shares being now under German control) the English
stationmaster at ?Adana has been dismissed and two Maltese employes on e me
while among all the foreign undertakers, Swiss, Belgian or Italian to whom the
Bagdad line is being let out in small contracts of from 5 to 10 kilom. each, theie is not
3 ^Tohe^ay^ouTfrom Adana, towards Aleppo, the railway route is levelled towards
Missis” and the rails laid for a few kilometres, hut beyond Hamidieh no work is
^MeTssner Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the head engineer for the section “ tartkn
expected to arrive there the 1st May, and it was understood that he would stait on
work of building bridges and other preliminary work at once.
May 16, 1910.
[2738 z—1]