File 342/1913 'Mesopotamia: Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Co; mail contract' [‎39r] (84/286)

ENCLOSURES.
Enclosure No. 1.
Contract with the Euphrates and Tigris Steam
Navigation Company, dated 30th March 1905.
(Printed on separate sheet.)
Enclosure No. 2.
Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company to
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. .
3, Salter’s Hall Court, Cannon Street, London, E.C.,
Sir, 15th February 1901.
I hare the honour to bring to your notice the fact that the
Contract dated 6th of August 1896, and which became operative on the
1st of May 1894, between the Government of India and this Company,
for the conveyance of mails between Busreh and Baghdad, will expire
on the 30th April of this year; and I am directed by my Board to
apply to you for a renewal for a further decennial period.
It will be within your recollection that the subsidy was reduced in
1894 from a sum of Rs. 36,000 to a sum of Rs. 24,000, the rupee having,
however, materially depreciated within the 10 years. The sum now
given is only sufficient to cover the outlay necessitated by the keeping
in Busreh of a third steamer, which we are not permitted by the Turkish
Government to use, but which must always be in readiness to convey
the mails should a breakdown occur to one of the other two steamers.
We trust, therefore, that we shall not be asked to consent to a reduction
of a subsidy which has already reached a figure that is barely in proportion
to the demands made by the Postal Service upon the Company.
During the last decennial period the condition of the River Tigris has
sensibly deteriorated. Navigation has become much more difficult
owing to the volume of the water in the river having become less as
further canals, unscientifically cut, have been dug by the Arabs along
its banks for irrigation purposes. To meet the congestion of cargo, for
the most part British and Indian, which this state of things has brought
about, the Company have been obliged to have recourse to the towing of
barges, distributing the cargo between the steamer and the barge. This
measure has been a great boon to British and Indian manufacturers and
merchants, whose cargo would otherwise have been delayed for a very
long period. But it has imposed a great strain upon the Company’s
staff, and it has been most difficult to keep up a regular service. In
the circumstances, we submit that the service of the mails has been
efficiently maintained. Although it was provided in our last contract
that, having regard to the reduction of the subsidy, the service should be
a weekly one, so far as was compatible with the reasonable requirements
of the trade, yet we find, in fact, that the weekly connection between
the river steamers and the British India steamers has only failed in
about 10 cases on an average out of 100. When it is borne in mind that
even this small percentage is due to three factors over which our Com
pany have no control, namely, extreme lowness of water, inability of
the Baghdad Custom House officials to provide a berth for discharging
cargo, or quarantine restrictions, we submit that the record is not a
discreditable one. During the last half-year, when the river has been
better, the steamers have not missed the connection a single time.
While asking for a renewal of the subsidy, we feel it our duty to call
your attention to the extremely onerous restrictions which are imposed
by the Turkish Government upon the activities of our Company. So
long as we arc confined to the use of two steamers only, and so long