‘Report for the Army Council on Mesopotamia. By Sir John P Hewett, GCSI, KBE’ [‎18v] (41/119)

sets could be erected in Mesopotamia in July, and others by the 1st October, and he knew that they were
required for sale to Arab cultivators for the irrigation of the wheat and barley crops sown in the winter
of 1918-19. The two essentials, apart from compliance with the specification, were that the pumps
should be delivered in time for erection before the end of December, and that they should be procured at
a cost which would permit of their being purchased by the cultivators at a reasonable price. The sanction
of the War Office to the scheme was limited to immediate food development, and could not be held to
extend to the expenditure of advances on pumps which would not be erected in time to ensure the cultiva
tion of the spring harvest of 1919. Up to the end of December only two complete pumping sets, out of
of the 12 sets referred to in the telegram of the 24th April [Appendix XIX] as having been already secured,
had arrived at Basrah, and, in a telegram dated the 20th July (i.e., four months after the original demand),
the Central Transport and Foodstuffs Board intimated to the Board of Agriculture that the work of
buying pump sets had just commenced, and that it was expected that 30 sets would be shipped shortly.
This expectation was not, however, realised as the first pumping set was not advised at Basrah till the
9th November. At a meeting of the Central Transport and Foodstuffs Board held on the 26th September,
Mr. Henderson was asked to include in his fortnightly reports prices of all articles purchased. This had
not been done up to the 1st February, 1919, the date of the last fortnightly report received from Mr.
Henderson. Moreover, the Secretary to the Board of Agriculture telegraphed on the 3rd August to
the Central Transport and Foodstuffs Board, asking for invoices to be sent to enable prices to be fixed,
and repeated this request on the 2nd November. The first invoice reached the Board of Agriculture on
the 28th November. At the meeting of the Board of Agriculture on the 16th November, it was decided
to telegraph to India reducing the number of sets to 100. The latest fortnightly report of Mr. Henderson,
received before that meeting, was dated the 12th October, and contained the information that 145 sets
had been purchased or arranged for. The cable to cancel 100 sets was sent because it was not clear
that the purchase of 145 sets had been finally concluded. At the meeting of the Board held on the 14th
December, by which time it had become apparent from the 11 invoices received that purchases by Mr.
Henderson had not been limited to the figure of Rs. 12,000 (£800), it was resolved (1) that the loss should
be borne by India inasmuch as the authorities there had failed to state the prices in time to admit of
cancellation ; (2) That, failing India (the two representatives of the Civil Commissioner on the Board
dissenting), civil revenues should bear the loss ; (3) That the matter should be referred to me; and (4)
That all pumps which had not already left India should be cancelled.
Up to the 31st December, 1918, only 14 pumps had been received. The average cost of these pumps,
not including freight charges from Bombay to Basrah, and up river or the cost of erection in Mesopotamia,
works out at Rs. 17,654 (£1,177) a set. The average costs according to the sizes of pumps are :—
Rs. £
5-inch pumps .. .. .. ..
.. 14,478 (965)
6-inch pumps ..
.. 16,194 (1,079)
7-inch pumps ..
.. 18,654 (1,243)
8-inch pumps ..
.. 19,840 (1,322)
The great majority of the pumps ordered are second-hand sets,
ing sets in Egypt at pre-war rates was :—
The approximate cost of new pump-
Rs. £
5-mch pumping sets
.. 2,200 (146)
6-inch pumping sets
.. 3,000 (200)
8-inch pumping sets
.. 4,500 (300)
The pre-war prices of Messrs. Blockey Cree & Co., who have sold many pumping sets in Mesopotamia,
inclusive of piping and erection, but not including foundation bolts and foundation were :—
Turkish Lira.
4- inch * .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 110
5- inch .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 145
6- inch 185
7- inch .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 215
8- inch .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 280
9- inch .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ,. 320
10-inch .. 380
12-inch .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 570
The Director of Agriculture had succeeded in selling two pumps by the end of 1918, viz., one 5-inch
pump for Rs. 9,550 (£636), and one 8-inch pump for Rs. 18,000 (£1,200) at a loss on the two transactions
of Rs. 4,825 (£322).
Local opinion is unanimous that it will not be possible, at all events at any early date, to dispose
of the 200 pumps in Mesopotamia, and it is unlikely that any set will be disposed of except at a loss.
There must obviously be a serious financial less on the transaction as well as the loss in production due to
the fact that none of the pumps ordered were in position in time to assist in the purpose for which they
were designed, viz., increasing the irrigable area for the spring harvest of 1919. The Central Transport
and Foodstuffs Board, to which under the orders received from the Commander-in-Chief in India the Board