File 2764/1904 Pt 2 'Baghdad Railway: General negotiations 1908-10.' [‎233r] (474/799)

and I find from Consular Trade Reports that the average rate of freight during the
same period between the United Kingdom and Bagdad was— 8
River freight
Sea freight
Total
Insurance w.p.a. ..
For Imports.
For Exports.
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
2 5 0
1 1 101
1 12 9
1 4 6
3 17 9
2 6 41
1 to 1^ per cent.
About 1 per cent.
It is questionable whether these rates are ever likely to be reduced by any
material amount. The British Kiver Steamer Company, I am informed, only declares
a dividend of 12 per cent. (I must confess that I find this difficult to understand), and
a shrewd man of business who has been many years in Bagdad tells me that he doubts
if the present rates can be profitably reduced, because when harvests are bad, or when
all expoit of gram is prohibited, the steamers practically get no cargo on the downward
journey. As legalds Sea Steamer Companies, all authorities seem to agree that the
Hamburg-American Line has been losing money on its Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. service, and the
British Steamer Companies have been urging that they cannot indefinitely continue to
compete at the present lates unless they get some Government assistance. As regards
this service, too, there seems little likelihood of large reductions of charges, because
the conditions aie such as to tell against low freights the journey is a dangerous one
through unlighted seas, the climate is very trying, the Suez Canal dues have to be
paid both on the outward and the homeward voyage, and serious delays are often caused
by insufficiency of water on the bar at the mouth of the Shat-ul-Arab, as well as by an
entire absence of harbours in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Owing to lack of protection cargo
cannot be worked in bad weather, and three steamers are maintained at Bussorah to
lighten steamers crossing the bar.
More than half the import trade of Bagdad passes on to Persia via Khanakin, and
for transport from Bagdad to Khanakin we must add about 205 . a-ton to the above
rates, plus the cost of handling the cargo at Bagdad.
3. I believe that with cheaper freights and better means of communication our
trade in Turkey would very largely increase, and it is obvious that cheaper freights will
enable our trade to compete in the more distant parts of Persia.
If a railway to the Mediterranean is desirable in existing circumstances, it will be
readily admitted that it is absolutely essential to the success of any large irrigation
projects. Sir William Willcocks has now had sufficient time to make a detailed study
of the country, and I understand from him that nowhere in the world could more
promising projects be proposed. He estimates that 6,000,000 acres can eventually be
brought under perennial irrigation, and that by using occasional rises in the river, and
what would otherwise be the surplus water of the high floods, he will be able to flood
10,000,000 acres more, when needed, and so enormously increase the grazing capacity
of the country. This is a very important point, for the country is eminently suited to
the raising of sheep and cattle, owing to the large quantities of lime in the soil and
water and also because the pastoral population is present to take advantage of any
grazing facilities afforded. An increase in grazing seems desirable on political as well
as commercial grounds, for it will bring the pastoral population into touch with the
agricultural population and so, by force of example, lead them to the more profitable
occupation.
Even if Sir William Willcocks’ figures are many times too sanguine to be realized
in the near future, it is clear that any serious irrigation works will need an economical
outlet to the chief consuming markets. In ordinary years all the surplus produce will
go by the Mediterranean, but when there is a famine in India it would be of great value
to that country to be able to draw on such a granary as Mesopotamia.
There is already a considerable trade in animals from the Vilayets of Bagdad and
Bussorah to Aleppo. Animals are marched up all the way, they are liable to be robbed
or to die, and I am told that it is not an unknown thing for the whole herds or flocks
to disappear, yet the trade is profitable. From the Consular Beport for Aleppo for the
year 1907 it appears that 191,512/. worth of sheep and cattle were annually shipped
to Egypt from Alexandretta during 1903—7, and no doubt this trade could be largely^