File 4030/1913 Pt 1 'Baghdad Railway: Negotiations; Navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates' [‎179r] (161/280)

[Thi s Doemn ent is the Property of His Britaimir. Majesty’s Government. 1
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA.
[November 15.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
/
[51939]
L r :*
' S i 3
No. 1.
Section 1.
Foreign Office to Messrs. Slaughter and May.
(Most Confidential.)
Gent j e rrv t .1 1 Q . . „ Foreign Office, November 15, 1913.
. ^ directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to state that, as yon are probably aware
he is m receipt of a communication from Mr. H. F. B. Lynch, dated the 29th October'
enclosing a memorandum by Mr. Slaughter, on the subject of arrangements in
connection with the navigation of the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
With reference to this communication from your client, I am to say that without
entering into controversy, Sir E. Grey is unable to accept the accounts given in the
documents referred to either as complete or as entirely accurate so far as they relate
to the attitude or action of this Department.
With regard to the question of including the emoluments arising from the
management of the Belgian company (the Societe des Transports fluviaux) as part of
the revenues of the proposed joint management company, it is true that in the
proposals contained in the Foreign Office memorandum of the 19th May no mention
was made of the Belgian company, and it is observed that Mr. Lynch’s proposals of
the 13th August were themselves silent as regards this subject. It appeared, however,
reasonable to suppose that there would be distinct advantages in extending the
operations of the management company, if established, to the management of the
Societe des Transports fluviaux, and that such an arrangement would, indeed, be
equitable, and an intimation was accordingly conveyed by Mr. Parker to Mr. Slaughter
at the meeting at the Foreign Office on the 8th September.
Mr. Parker then stated that Sir E. Grey considered that the management company
should, if possible, have the management, and emoluments consequent thereon, of the
Societe des Transports fluyiaux (the company entrusted with the conveyance of the
material for the Bagdad Railway), and that Lord Inchcape should participate equally
with Mr. Lynch in those emoluments.
Mr. Lynch and yourself cannot be unaware that in so far as the proposals put
forward by your client on the 13th August were more advantageous to him than those
contained in Sir E. Grey’s memorandum, they cannot be looked upon as merely
supplementary to the latter, but must to that extent be considered in the light of
additional proposals necessitating some modification of those originally made from
this Department.
As regards the position in respect of the Societe des Transports fluviaux, to
which a considerable portion of Mr. Slaughter’s memorandum is devoted, the fact that
the transfer of its management to the proposed joint management company might
involve some pecuniary loss to your client has not been overlooked, but it is presumed
that you are aware that the undertaking of the company in question is of a purely
temporary character. It has been stipulated by His Majesty’s Government that the
operations of the company shall cease on the completion of the construction of
the Bagdad Railway and that its vessels shall forthwith be removed from Turkish
internal waterways, and in these conditions your client has acquiesced (see letter dated
the 27th March, 1912, from Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company and
Foreign Office reply of the 6th May, 1912). It is probable that this period will have
arrived in about five years’ time, so that whatever the emoluments of the management
of the undertaking may be they have to be considered with this important qualification ;
and, further, any temporary loss which might be caused to Mr. Lynch in this matter
would, in Sir E. Grey’s opinion, probably be much more than offset by the permanent
gam accruing to him from equal participation in the profits of management of the
new Ottoman company, which are likely in the course of time to exceed the profits
of management of the Euphrates and Tigris Steamship Company.
While therefore Sir E. Grey is not prepared to urge upon Lord Inchcape that
the entire advantages set out in his memorandum of the 19th May, plus those
contained in Mr. Lynch’s proposals of the 13th August, should be conceded to your
client, he has, nevertheless, been in communication with his Lordship with a vievr to
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