File 3846/1910 'Mesopotamia: Baghdad affairs. Miscellaneous.' [‎202r] (412/536)

^ SU( ^ (ien out bnrst of commercial activity described -bove
r a XfX 8 Xrf erp e t f lty ’ espe r ally as 1 feel c »^emble doubt of itglLine-
A number of tL to n°h the P romoters generally to carry it to a successful issue,
umber of the would-be native concessionnaires have no experience of the hind
iThadlati if 7 ^ t0 g6 there " Sald to be a
d r T f 5 7 ; 7 nd Hamdl Be 7 18 neurotic and has recently had a dis-
oteratfn 11 *’ 1 understand > wlth a British Consul in Syria. Exact details of intended
operations are also very hard to ascertain.
WnlitntrowTr 6 ™^ 6111 ^ 801 British trade, I wrote privately, to the
ottenxdse^ 21s ^ dune offering to obtain for him, through the Board of Trade or
otterwise any commercia! information of which he might stand in need. I
enclosed a list of articles m regard to which I could supply information.
a J- n ^ 0 ^ nat i°d 1 anc f instructions received by telegram from His Britannic Maiesty’s
Ambassador relieved me of responsibility in the matter of the Baghdad Municipal
i
In regard to steam navigation, I mformed His Majesty’s Ambassador at Con
stantinople by wire of the official tendency to overlook the pending Lynch conces
sion project which was being manifested here. Finding that the Saiyid Hasun
group had been approached by an agent of the Russian Consulate with a view to
securing an order for steamers for Russian builders, I advised Haji ’Ali Muham-
madfbhushtan), one of the British partners, to obtain quotations from British
buglers also; and I understand that he has since approached Messrs. Lynch’s
Baghdad agent with a specification.
In the matter of the electric schemes, I telegraphed to the Brilish Embassy
at Constantinople about the presence there of Mahmud Shahbandar, and about
the probability, unless he were interviewed on behalf of British electrical manu
facturers, of his placing any orders he might have to give in Belgium.
With regard to the Damascus motor service, I ascertained that Hamdi Bey
though he would most probably buy his automobiles in Paris, was also in treaty
with the Argyle and another British Motor Company. This desert mail service
by motor-car has been undertaken, I should say, without sufficient enquiry or
thought ; and, if it ends in failure, the blame will probably be laid upon the
maker of the cars with which the experiment is made.
With regard to the motor vessels ordered by Nazim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. from England, I
have carefully and repeatedly impressed upon His Excellency the necessity of
insisting that the makers should send out a European engineer with the boats to
put them together and instruct native mechanics in their management; and I
have also telegraphed to the Embassy in the same sense. Experience with the
Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. motor-launch, itself by Messrs. Thornycroft, has shown that motor-
vessels cannot be satisfar torily run by the present race of Baghdad mechanics.
"The Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. launch is as often laid up as working.
(10) Mr. Prince,* the representative of Messrs. Cooper, Allen and Company
* See last Salary, xi, l. India His visit has
g lven the \ all and staff a favourable im
pression of Indian military manufactures and manufacturers. Before his depar
ture Mr. Prince was promised another order for 1,000 saddles from his firm, as
soon as the money should be available ; and after he was gone Nazim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
spoke of him to me as an excellent man of business, and said that he was also “ tres
sympathique.” Mr. Prince, on his part, was so well pleased with prospects
here that he seriously proposed to return to Baghdad for six months next winter
to study and cultivate the market. He conducted his business with the Turks
entirely without consular assistance.
(11) The farmers of the Musal Wilayat seem inclined to declare for the Ame-
f See last Summary, XI, 2. ricanf reaping machines there, which are
* • . made by the Derring Company, because
possess an rake that is wanting in the Scottish reaper exhibited.
The latter is of the “ Rajah ” pattern; makers, Messrs. Wallace of Glasgow. Mr."
Parry has now obtained a favourable quotation for a British reaper with automatic
rake and hopes to be able to undersell the Americans. He is also offering! to