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Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction' [52r] (107/940)
The record is made up of 1 file (468 folios). It was created in 20 Mar 1949-13 Dec 1949. It was written in English. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
/ 10.
-7-
It is impossible to assess without extensive and
detailed surveys how much more land might reasonably be
brought under cultivation. Some estimates have put the total
* as high as 450,000 acres, but the greater proportion of this
will have to be provided by terracing the mountain slopes
which is a slow and costly process, and which can only be
justified for the planting of nev/ olive groves or where
water is available for the cultivation of fruit trees.
It is concluded in the Gibb Report that the Lebanon must
• devote her energies to intensification of cultivation
of those arable lands already ploughed rather than attempt
to bring new lands into use. The most effective manner
of doing so is by increasing the area under irrigation.
8 . Irrigation
The Lebanese main natural resource is water. The
country enjoys a fair annual rainfall over most areas. Though
the greater part of this falls during the winter period
lasting about seven months and there is considerable
variation from year-to-year, many of the rivers and streams
have a fair flow of water even at the end of tne long
rainless summer. When the rain ceases the rivers are fed
by melting snows. There are also believed to be considerable
source® of sub-soil water.
The need for the maximum exploitation of the country*s
water resources for irrigation, domestic use and
hydro-electric development is obvious, oertain projects
already in hand, a drainage scheme in the South Beqaa^
Valley and irrigation schemes at Lake Yamouneh, and the
Akkar Plain and at Qasimiyeh near Tyre. The total area
commanded by these schemes is about 90,000 acres and it
is estimated that a further 100,000 acres could be
irrigated if all possible water supplies were used.
The competing claims of irrigation, domestic water
supplies and hydro-electric ix>wer need careful balaancing.
Some of the schemes already begun were unfortunately
launched without sufficient technical investigations.
9. Cadastral Survey
By the end of 1946 only 35^ of the Lebanon had
been covered by Cadastral Survey. Without such a
survey many improvements in farming methods,
afforestation and irrigation will be difficult.
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to the Middle East (Official) Committee. It consists of: papers circulated to members of the Committee, received by the External Department of the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO); a few items of CRO correspondence with the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office, and Commonwealth governments; and a register of papers received or sent by the CRO relating to the Committee, with internal CRO correspondence (at the back of the file).
The file includes agendas for meetings of the Committee, and minutes of the meetings on 28 April, 5 May, 5 July and 19 July 1949. Matters discussed and recorded in the minutes include: the reconstitution of the Committee; the re-settlement of Arab refugees from Palestine; the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East by the Working Party of the Committee; the future work of the Committee; the Conference of HM Representatives in the Middle East to be held in London from 26 to 29 July 1949; United States President Truman’s ‘Fourth Point’ (Truman’s message of 24 June 1949 to the United States House of Representatives, communicating a ‘Recommendation for the Enactment of Legislation to Authorise an Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for Underdeveloped Areas of the World’); and further studies of the Working Party.
The file also includes the following papers prepared by (or approved by) the Working Party of the Committee: draft, revised and interim versions of the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East; papers relating to the economic and social development of Iraq, Syria, Greater Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan , Egypt, the Lebannon, Saudi Arabia, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Eritrea and Somalia, and the Colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorate; and a paper on Middle East oil.
In addition, the file includes other papers relating to matters discussed at the meetings, and the following subjects: Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan ; irrigation development in Iraq; Persia’s [Iran’s] Seven Year Plan for development; informal conversations on social and economic affairs in the Middle East between representatives of the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the British Embassy in Washington, and the United States State Department; the work of the Development Division of British Middle East Office; a survey of the oil resources of the Middle East; and economic development in Cyprus in relation to the Middle East.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (468 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate reverse chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
Numbers in red pen on the top right hand corner of items in the file refer to entries in the register of papers received and sent by the Commonwealth Relations Office at the back of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 468; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/4756
- Title
- Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:42r, 43r:116v, 120r:259v, 261r:294v, 296r:436v, 442r:468v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence