File 1290/1905 'Mesopotamia: Oudh Bequest' [‎5r] (14/260)

No. 1137, dated Baghdad, the 15th November 1913.
From—J. G. Lorimer, Esq., C I.E., Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. and His
Britannic Majesty's Consul-General, Baghdad,
To—J. B. Wood, Esq., C.I.E,, Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign
Department.
I have the honour, in continuation of my letter* No. 764 of 28th August
1912, to address you again, perhaps for
the last time, on the subject of the
(«) The total amount is Es. 1 , 22,003 =£ t. Oudh Bequest. The importance (a) of
8,967 (approximately) a year. .. >.•
the Bequest, especially as it is now admi
nistered under closer supervision from this Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , seems to warrant and
even to necessitate an annual report on it by the Resident. The Government
Tv „ . of India and His Majesty’s Government
(b) See in particular the following passages:— , -i-ii •<> ii
1912 , November, IV, 1, and December, IV, 6. have already been informed however,
1913 , April, iv, 2 ,-May, iv, 2 ; June, iv, 9 and through (6) the Baghdad Summary, of
10; August, IV, 5; September, IV, 8; and October, \ 7 ,5 ... ji -r* J i.
iv, 4 and 6. many facts connected with the Bequest.
2. The political difficulties which overhung the working of the Oudh
Bequest in 1912 passed harmlessly away; and, though the Committee of Union
and Progress ultimately returned to power at Constantinople, official inter
ference with our proceedings was not renewed. There is no guarantee, of
course, that political difficulties will not recur in the future.
So far the only lasting result of last year’s conflict with the Wilayat has
been the exclusion of Turkish subjects from a share iu the management and
benefits of the Bequest. 'The difficulties about the treatment of Turkish subjects
raised by Ahmad Jamal Bey when he was Wall were not removed by his
immediate successors. I specially invited two of them to signify that the
difficulties had ceased to exist, but they professed in reply to be waiting for
orders from Constantinople, which never came. I therefore accepted the situa
tion as it stood, substituted a Persian subject permanently for the only Turkish
subject who was a Mujtahid-Distributor under the Bequest, and stereotyped an
arrangement that I had intended to be temporary whereby only British-Indian,
Persian and other non-Ottoman subjects were included in charitable distribu
tions under the Bequest. The Arabs of Karbala and Najaf are nearly all
Ottoman subjects, and the exclusion of their poor from the benefits of the Ondh
Bequest through the action of Turkish officials has made an unfavourable
impression on their minds, but that is the Porte’s affair, not ours.
3. In the end the Mujtahid-Distributors whose attitude towards the new
arrangements was still doubtful when I
last («) wrote, and who were practically
under suspension then, all took a satis
factory An East India Company trading post. line and had their shares restored
to them without any deduction or reduction. A number of vacancies among
Mujtabid-Ditributors and Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Members of the Karbala and Najaf Com
mittees, due to death and other causes, were filled up under my orders at the
last distribution in October 1913, and the following is now the composition of
the two Committees :—
Karlala Committee.
President. —Mr. Muhammad Hasan Muhsin, K. B., British Vice-Consul,
Karbala.
Mujtahid-Distributors.
1. Saiyid ’AH, TangaW pQRElCN SECRETARY'S
2. Saiyid Muhammad Baqir, Behbeham. j 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
G) See paragraphs 3, 4, and 6 of my letter*
No. 764 of 28th August 1912.
3. Shaikh Hadi, Isfahani.
4. Saiyid Muhammad, Kashani.
5. Saiyid Murtaza Husain, Indian.
6. Saiyid Kalb-i-Mehdi, Indian.
7. Saiyid Ibn Hasan, Indian.
No. 3 dated
15*’ JANISH
126FD