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'A Précis of the Relations of the British Government with the Tribes and Shaikhs of 'Arabistan By Lieutenant A T Wilson, Acting Consul for Arabistan' [‎43r] (90/143)

The record is made up of 1 volume (68 folios). It was created in 1912. It was written in English and Farsi. 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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71
PART II.
The Karkhah Irrigation Scheme.
ancient’work^nH^h?, 1 * 6 ^ Ka , rQn scheme . involves the reconstruction of
orks and the irrigation of areas watered in past times by canals 1
has always been considered by the Shaikh as offering a far more profitable in’
vestment for capital than that of the dam at Ahwaz profitable in-
As early as 1905, he expressed an opinion strongly in favour of the Kar
fXw"? aer,,nt T t r d ^ HiS Ma j eSt / S V -Consul for ’Irablstan the
ta ned ^ he mann / r ln whlch the late Nizam-es-Saltaneh ob
tained from the Shah a grant of the Kut Nahr Hashim lands watered bv th"
Karkhah, and those on the right of the Karun. y
MaU bank b cf U Ihe h Kk I rm'V Ze1 ' VI, ^ T.T by> , he Said ’ so,, ^ t a P ort on right
+ l v,,run tiom the Shaikhs predecessor Iluji Jahir Shaikh Tah-r
fnd n Mlul 1 a m ’ a \h P I° t ll k rT aS T i” 1 m ' ut ', Tamma i r - Later ™ ‘hey became alienated
and Mania Abdullah claimed the whole of the right bank of the Kanin It
Shaikh EWal td aCCePt the eV j‘ 1 a n f °f Sh f ikh Fa ™ o£ Fallf,hiveh as final.
chanced tb„t h \ d f Tl S ' ,C . Cee< k d *? tbe P lace of Ha jl Jabir. It unfortunately
sunnort W ,th t in 0Ut r tb ', he Fahahiyeh Sha.kh, and so forfeited d
entered into jk « ^ “T^.. . Llm ; • At thi8 P oin ‘ the Ni^m-es-Saltaneh
bin, t bin tfti 1 T i ,t achm « himself to Shaikh Miz’al’s interests helped
f ' if 11 ' 1 from the Central Government (?) for him the
nhved , Sald he beld a letter from the Nizam in evidence of the real part he
N" * 'V l! s Oansaction. Having, however, accomplished this service the
Shaikh e Miz a ’a?7n tb™ r °T d au ;’ , ! eclared that he hM a partnership’with
Shaikh WaVtiL l ownership of the land. Prudential reasons restrained
? kh M ! z al , fl .®“ denouncing the claim, and Shaikh Khaz’al on his accession
o power bund it inexpedient to bring the disputed ownership to an open test.
I he Karkhah scheme did not, however, at that time attract notice and it
Mas not heard of again till 1909 when Sir A. Willcocks drew attention to the
possibilities of irrigation from the Karkhah and suggested the advisability of
with^hbf 1Ilg 0 P eratlons 0n that rlv er, which could be dammed by the Shaikh
\tith his own resources without the intervention of the Persian Government
and without arousing international jealousies. He pointed out that whilst a
scheme wn!,W bT '! ould , ™ ake navigation impossible, the Karkhah
betTchanl of sucTss ’ aDd 1,61138 ° n Slmilar SCale W0Uld have a much
A careful investigation and survey of the Karkhah river and the ground
Mr'T W 6 ! orre P^hHc the year by Lieutenan t Wilson assifted by
. . vy. Storrs, Public Works Department, and in January 1910 Sir Will-
cocks actually visited Kut Nahr Hashim, and spent several days there in ex-
amining the ground and the proposed site for a dam. He came to the con
clusion after careful investigation, that the best site for a dam for irrigation
purposes on the Karkhah was at Sin’al 'Abbas, about 5 miles above KutNahr
llashini. At this site a stratum of good sand stone rock over 8 feet thick
s raight across the river is available for the foundations of a dam. From the
detailed estimates prepared by Mr. Storrs under Sir W. Willcocks’ super
vision it appears that the dam itself would cost £38,000; adding 33 per cent
tor contingencies, establishment and buildings, the total cost would be raised
to about £50,000. T he cost of the head regulator (plus 33 per cent.) was esti-
mated at £3 700 and earth work for the canal leading to the cut through the
Kut Nahr Hashim hill £17,000. g
0 * 7 K liberal provision for contingencies came to
/o,UUU. 100,000 acres could be irrigated by the canal all the year round :
and a revenue of £20,000 could be counted on by the Shaikh.
It will be plain from the foregoing that from a technical point of view
t he scheme is excellent and large profits might be expected from it, the objec-
1 Khanler Mirza Governor of Arabistan in 1851, made the upper dam at Kut Nahr Hashim “for th>
nurp°se of restoring the river Karkhah to the ancient channel past the town of Hawizeh which was abandoned
by the stream in 1832. The project was a complete failure and a large portion of it was earned away by a
sudden rise of the river. Seven thousand tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. were spent on the project it is said. As soon as the great rise
took place the water flooded into the new cutting known as Mashnyeh, but from an unexplained cause rushed
back again, thus demolishing all the works. (Loftus Chaldea and Susiana, 1857, p. 361 and p. 431.j

About this item

Content

This volume consists of a précis issued by the Government of India which provides comprehensive details regarding the history of relations between the British Government and the tribes and rulers of 'Arabistan. The volume is divided into eleven sections as follows:

  • I. British Interests in 'Arabistan;
  • II. 'Arabistan: Internal Politics up to the death of Haji Jabir and genealogical table of Shaikhs of Mohammerah, 1527-1881;
  • III. Shaikh Miz'als's rule, 1882-1897;
  • IV. Shaikh Khaz'al's rule, 1897-1910;
  • V. Shaikh Khaz'al and the Persian Customs;
  • VI. Shaikh Khaz'al: Political Relations with British Government;
  • VII. Piracies;
  • VIII. Turko-Persian Frontier Question;
  • IX. Shaikh of Mohammerah and Turks;
  • X. Irrigation in 'Arabistan;
  • XI. Acquisition and Tenure of Land in 'Arabistan with Annexes.

Between folios 51-70, the volume contains a number of appendices including copies of various relevant agreements. On folios 69-70, the volume contains the Persian text of a concession granted to the Nasiri Company for running ships from Ahwaz to Shushtar.

The volume was compiled by Lieutenant Arnold Talbot Wilson, Acting Consul for 'Arabistan. The printing statement reads, 'Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, 1912'

Extent and format
1 volume (68 folios)
Arrangement

The volume opens with a contents page (folio 4) followed by a prefatory note (folio 5), a list of relevant officials (folio 6), a schedule of appendices (folio 7), eleven chapters of text (folios 8-50) and ends with sixteen appendices (folios 51-70).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 70; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at 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 original printed pagination sequence is present in parallel between ff 8-65.

Written in
English and Farsi in Latin and Arabic script
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'A Précis of the Relations of the British Government with the Tribes and Shaikhs of 'Arabistan By Lieutenant A T Wilson, Acting Consul for Arabistan' [‎43r] (90/143), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/70, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034861789.0x00005b> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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