File 1283/1913 Pt 5 'MESOPOTAMIA TRADE Issue of new Trade Report' [‎98r] (191/270)

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* (a) Between Feluja and Baghdad, Babylon and
Bajhaila.
(b) The Hai Branch of the Tigris.
(c) The country between Basrah and Jubair,
(d) The country round the Hindia Branch of the
Euphrates.
(e) The country between Beled and Baghdad on
the right bank of the Tigris.
(/) The Nahrwan Canal.
Vide Appendix VI.
of 7,150,000 acres of winter crops, and of summer crops 1,000,000 acres of rice
or 3,125,000 of millet, sesame, cotton,
etc. Sir W illiam selects six * tracts as
specially favourable for irrigation schemes.
But as both the rivers are liable to heavy
and sudden floods which inundate the
country, he considers that special and
very expensive works will also be necessary
to provide escapes for the surplus waters.
He estimates the total cost of the irrigation and agricultural works at
£T.29,105,020 and he anticipates that the net annual return to Govern
ment after deducting maintenance charges will be £T.l,371,000, repre
senting a return of 9 per cent, on the outlay on the irrigation works only.
Sir William’s estimates of cost are necessarily somewhat rough and ready,
since he has arrived at them by first adding to the probable cost of each project,
one-third for contingencies and then doubling the figure to allow for interest
on the money spent and subsequent development. Further, it is very doubtful
whether his anticipations as to the probable returns from the newly irrigated
country will prove to be adequate in the light of the fuller information now
in process of collection as to the outturn of the land and the conditions of
tenure. If cultivators were available in unlimited numbers to take up and
work all newly irrigated land, his expectations would probably prove to be
much below the mark. But the population question, to which we shall refer
later, will necessarily have an important bearing on the problem of the resto
ration of Mesopotamia.
35. But it is by no means certain that if the expedients suggested by Sir Reasons for the
William Willcocks were adopted, they could be relied upon to restore the lost ^f® r B lordtion of the
regime of the rivers on sound and permanent lines.
In the case of the Tigris and Euphrates, whatever may have been the
cause, we know that the streams have changed their original beds, have
discharged their flood waters into low r -lying areas which were converted into
great swamps to the detriment of cultivation and then, after laying waste the
country, have return to their original beds or have carved out new ones.
The marshes originally caused by the obstructed drainage have, however,
been perpetuated with the result that the rivers have been disintegrated and
agriculture has been ruined. In the case of the Euphrates, the most note~
worthy examples of the deterioration of the river’s course are seen in tho
case of the Hindia Branch and in the formation of the network of channels
round about the Hammar Lake. So long as existing conditions continue,
there appears to be no hope of the Euphrates ever establishing itself in a
definite channel because as soo n as it starts to carve out a bed, the Arab attacks,
it with his shovel and breaks it up. An instance of this can be seen in the case
of the Umn-el-Nakla. Further instances of the process of disintegration are, as
regards the Tigris, the Chahala, the Major Kabir and the Micheriya escapes,
down any of which the Tigris, is likely to flow if uncontrolled.
36. The restoration of the regime of the rivers appears to involve a three- The problem of
fold problem. Firstly, the successful but economical application of their waters re8toratlon '
for irrigation purposes; secondly, their preservation for navigation, which is
and will be for a long time to come essential, and, thirdly, the drainage of the
swamps now in existence. In the case of the larger Indian rivers which are
canalised, we see that the irrigation, drainage and the maintenance of the
river are in harmonious relationship. The river is not permitted to flow along
the line of the canals and no vast marshes spelling widespread disaster, are
created, the reason being that irrigation, drainage and the regime of the
river are considered as mutually dependent and not as independent problems.
In Mesopotamia, the phenomena suggest that irrigation has been permitted to
exploit the river and drainage has been left to look after itself.
37. The Trade Commissioners do not presume to offer any opinion as to Immediate
the lines on which it may eventually be considered desirable to find a
solution of the difficulties which has to be faced and they merely venture
at present to offer a warning as to the dangers involved in the hasty adoption
of any large schemes of irrigation before a body of information has been
measures.