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File 2764/1904 Pt 2 'Baghdad Railway: General negotiations 1908-10.' [‎244v] (499/799)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (391 folios). It was created in 1908-1910. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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would be a very unremunerative line, except in the reach from Baghdad to
Nedief. The line via Kut and the Hai would be of no value until the irrigation
of the country was undertaken, which would immediately follow the construc
tion of the Kut Barrage. Both lines of railways would have to compete heavily t
with river transport in an exceedingly flat country (Baghdad is only 115 feet
above sea level) where navigation would become very cheap the moment regular
freights offered and competition supervened. In this connection it might be
useful to note the question of liquid fuel and the development of the oil fields
on the Karun river. The present cost of transport by water is no gauge of
what may be expected under altered conditions ; for boats which lie idle for
months at a time and then have sudden demands made on them exist on extra
ordinarily high rates.
With the best information at my disposal I estimate as follows : By river
from Baghdad to Kut is 320 miles, from Kut to Basrah via Amarah along the
present course of the Tigris is 255 miles, or 505 miles in all. Taking the river
route along the Hai from Baghdad to Kut is 220 miles, from Kut to Basrah
along the Hai and the new channel which the Euphrates is cutting out for
itself is 225 miles or 445 miles in all.
A line of railway from Baghdad to Kut along the right bank of the Tigris
would be 110 miles; Kut to Nasria 110 miles, Nasria (Ur) to Basrah via Zobeir
90 miles, or 310 miles in all. As the railway must of necessity run parallel to
and near a navigable river in this flat delta of the Euphrates, where the fall from
Baghdad to Basrah in 500 miles is only 110 feet, the competition would be
exceedingly severe.
The Tigris between Kut and Basrah as it exists to-day, is a very poor river
for navigation. Leaving Kut with a width of about 1,000 feet and depth of 25
feet, before reaching Amarah it loses five-sixths of its water in flood times,
owing to overflows and deep offcasts, of which the Batera on the right and
Chala on the left are the principal: below Amarah the width is about 500 feet,
but the river is comparatively shallow. Between Amarah and Kila Saleh it
loses nearly the whole of its water through numerous branches and overflows,
of which the principal are the Major Kebir on the right and the Atalanta on
the left, while its channel dwindles down to a width of about 200 feet and its
depth in flood to 10 feet and about 6 feet at low water. Down stream of Kilah
Saleh, fed by numerous intakes from the marshes, it gradually increases to a
width of 500 feet with a depth of 15 feet.
To build works at the heads of the branches or offtakes of the river, which
between them takes about 175,000 cubic feet a second (or very nearly the
whole discharge of the river at Baghdad) would cost at least £250,000 and
there would always be the danger that, no sooner had one branch ^ been con
trolled, the river might cut a channel for itself at some neighbouring place.
Eor it must be remembered that in the neighbourhood of Amara the Tigris
is only some 800 years old, and is practically a deltaic embankment through
continuous marshes with its water surface some six feet above that of the mar
shes on either side : while there is the ever present danger of the river leaving
its channel altogether and flowing hodily into the marshes.
The true channel for navigation lies down the Hai branch, wTiich was the
main Tigris for thousands of years, and which could again be made the main
channel by the construction of the Kut Barrage, which would ensure sufficient
water both for navigation and for the irrigation of some 2,000,000 acres of the
rich highly ing lands of Lower Mesopotamia.
Eor the development of the country on natural lines, and the execution of
works which would be profitable alike to the Concessionaire and the country
(for there can be no really true difference between them in honest undertakings)
the true solution lies in the construction of a railway from Alexandretta on the
Mediterranean, via Aleppo to Baghdad, with the establishment of river trans
port between Baghdad and Basrah along the Hai branch.
The Kut Barrage project which I have proposed will cost £600,000, and
the dredging and encouraging of the Euphrates to establish its channel will

About this item

Content

The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, memoranda, newspaper cuttings, maps and notes, relating to negotiations over the proposed Berlin to Baghdad Railway in the period 1903-1907.

The discussion in the volume relates to the economic, commercial, political and military considerations impinging on British strategy for the international negotiations over the development of a railway to Baghdad in particular.

Further discussion surrounds the motivations and strategies of British competitors in the area; included in the volume are four maps.

The principal correspondents in the volume include the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Lord Lansdowne, Sir Edward Grey), His Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople (Sir Nicholas O'Connor), the Under Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir Charles Hardinge, Sir Thomas Henry Sanderson), and for India (Earl Percy, Sir Arthur Godley), the Viceroy of India (Lord Curzon of Keddleston), the Secretary to the Political and Secret Department of the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. (Sir Richmond Richie) and the London Manager of the Imperial Bank of Persia (George Newell).

Extent and format
1 volume (391 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

The subject 2764 (Bagdad Railway) consists of five volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/56-60. The volumes are divided into five parts with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 392; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 329-358; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front cover.

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English in Latin script
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File 2764/1904 Pt 2 'Baghdad Railway: General negotiations 1908-10.' [‎244v] (499/799), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/57, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026492733.0x000064> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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