File 3047/1909 'Railways: Asiatic Turkey; railway construction in Asia Minor' [‎8r] (20/368)

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Mujssiys uoyenunent.]
(£>
ASIATIC T URKEY AND ARABIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Gun
[June 12.]
Section 8.
[22652] No - L
SirG. Lowther to Sir Edward June 12.)
(No. 145. Commercial.) Constantinople, June 7, 1911.
S ' r ’ AMONG the many questions discussed during the final session of Parliament on
the Srd instant was that of the construction and prolongation of a railway from Ada-
Ilazar (where the short branch line from Sahanja, on the Anatohan Railway, at piesen
ends) to Bolu and onwards towards the Black Sea, a distance of about 200 kilom.
altogether. ^ o{ this qnest i on j s as obscure as that of all other similar matters
in this country, but,'so far as I can ascertain, the chief promoter of the scheme has
been Moukhtaf Bey Director of Railways in the Ministry of Public Works. It was
certainly he who induced M. Huguenin, who showed no particular eagerness to accept
the contract to submit a plan to Berlin, whereby the Anatolian Railway Company
were to build the line for a kilometric guarantee of 15,000 fr. and the right to double
the local line between Haidar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and Pendik. It was this last concession whic i
moved M Huguenin, but his directors in Berlin refused to undertake the uo k,
thereupon the Turkish Government stated that the kilometnc guarantee would be
secured on customs revenues, which induced the Berlin board to change their min .
The convention, as submitted to Parliament, merely stated that it was for the •
construction of a railway from Ada-BazarGo Bolu and some 135 kilom. further, to
a terminus not yet decided upon, and for the doubling of the Haidar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. len i
line while the kilometric guarantee had been fixed at lo, 0 UU Ir.
’ In this form it was, after some discussion, voted by the Chamber as a matter of
urgency but the conflict with the Senate, described in my despatch 391 of the
OthTime, then supervened, and the convention has therefore not received the sanction
of the latter body. j have &c
aVe ’ GERARD LOWTHER.
[2082 m— 8 ]
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