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Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction' [274r] (551/940)
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.
- 3 -
Syrians too strongly to accept British advice for fear of
offending French susceptibilities. x'his consideration has
however now almost ceased to apply. The Syrian Government
employed a British firm (Sir Alexander Gibb and rartners) in
1946 to mcdse an economic survey of the country. In the same
y^ar they engaged a British expert to review their system of
taxation system, and they also employed several American
agricultural experts. Reports have been made to the Syrian
Government by the Agricultural, Health, Labour, Forestry and
Soil Conservation, and Statistical Advisers of the British
Middle Bast Office. Early this year an. unofficial Syrian
envoy visited London to enquire about possible military and
economic aid from this country while a request has been made
for British matrons and nurses for appointment in Syrian hospitals.
French influence in the Syrian educational system has now virtually
disappeared and there are no longer any Frenchmen employed in any
of the. University faculties or Government secondary schools.
There is a possibility that the present Vice-President of the
American University at Beirut may be appointed Rector of the
University at Damascus and that teaching in most Faculties will
henceforth he conducted in English.
3. POPULATION ,
The population of Syria ^as estimated in 1944. at
2,901,000 of whom 71.5 % were classified as rural. The non-
sedentary population consisted at that date of about 150,000
nomads and.about 150,000 semi-sedentary persons, bringing the
total up to about 3,201,000. The rate of population increase is
22 % and the estimated total population in 1954 is 3 , 625 , 000 .
4. AREA
The total area of Syria is about 57,000 square miles
(or about 37 million acres), of which about 15 % (or 5.5 million
acres) is at present under cultivation. About one third of the
cultivated area is normally allowed to lie fallow each year.
Approximately 13 % of the 5.5 million acres of cultivated land
is irrigated.
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