'Memorandum respecting the Bagdad Railway' [‎147r] (11/52)

lines, and another to commence as soon as the new line
reaches Aleppo, for the purpose of covering the cost of
express train services.
“ Under various other Articles a number of minor but
valuable rights are conferred upon the Company;
exemption from customs dues for all materials,
machinery, rolling-stock, iron, wood, coal imported
from abroad during the period of construction and
extension, and exemption from taxation of the Com
pany’s entire property and revenue during the whole
term of the Concession; mining and quarrying and
forest rights within a zone of 20 kilom. on either side of
the line; the right to establish warehouses, ele
vators, &c.; to manufacture bricks and tiles, and to
make free use of any natural water power in the
vicinity of the line for traction and lighting purposes;
all of which tend to smooth the way for a monopoly of
the economic exploitation of the country.
“ The Company undertakes to make provision for
postal and telegraphic services, under the control of the
Ottoman Government, for the transport of troops in
time of war and peace, and for the establishment, at its
own expense, of the military posts required by the
Ministry of War, up to a total expenditure of
4,000,000 fr., the Government, moreover, remaining at
liberty to fortify all such points as it may deem neces
sary. The Company also undertakes that within five
years from the opening of each section the staff
employed upon it, with the exception of the superior
officials, shall be composed exclusively of Ottoman
subjects.
“ The constitution of the Imperial Ottoman Bagdad
Railway Company, created under Article VIII of the
Convention, is regulated by Statutes. The new Com
pany is to have its seat at Constantinople. Whilst the
Anatolian Railway Company undertakes, under
Article V, to transfer to the new Company the Con
cession granted to it under the 1903 Convention, it
nevertheless preserves for its own exclnsive benefit all
rights and obligations concerning the old Anatolian
Railway lines, as well as those which it derives from
Articles II, XXXIII, and XXXVII of the above
Convention.
“ Under Article VI the initial share capital of the
Company is fixed at 15,000,000 fr.
“Article XII states that the Company will be
administered by a Council of Administration, con
sisting of eleven members, three of whom shall be
nominated by the Anatolian Railway Company. The
others will be appointed by the general assembly. Three
members shall be Ottoman subjects.
“The most important Article, however, is Article
XX, under which the Council is invested with the
widest powers for administering the property and affairs
of the Company, ‘ et pent ineme transiger et compro-
mettre.' For it is in virtue of these powers that the
Germans, being so far in sole control, were able to