"مذكرة تتعلق بالملاحة في نهري دجلة والفرات". [و‎‎٤‎٥] (٢٨٤/٩٠)

73
Lord Dufferin,
No. 328,
Commercial,
October 16, 1883.
Lord Dufferin,
Nos. 53 and 57,
Commercial,
March 15 and 17,
1884.
Law Officers,
April 9, 1884.
(Appendix XXIII.)
Acting Consul-
General Tweedie,
No. 18,
July 6, 1883.
To and from
Euphrates and
Tigris Steam
Navigation
Company,
August 13 and 17,
1883.
provinces of Asiatic Turkey, that the Euphrates
and iigris should be opened to navigation by
vessels under all flags, but that the principle of
the free navigation of rivers established by the
additional Act of the Treaty of Vienna applied
only to rivers which flowed through the terri
tories of different States.
A project for the formation of an Ottoman
company to navigate the rivers of Mesopotamia
was also put forward in 1883, and in 1884
Consul-General Plowden reported to the embassy
at Constantinople that the Bagdad Government
was endeavouring to start a Turkish company
for the navigation of the rivers, their plan,
including the compulsory purchase of the com
pany's steamers. The Governor-General of
Bagdad was informed by the Central Govern
ment that the Porte were willing to consent to
tbe formation of the company on condition that
it should be composed of Ottoman subjects, and
that the concession did not encroach on the
privileges of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam
Navigation Company. This matter, as has
already been mentioned (see p. 65), was referred
to the Law Officers, who did not consider a
communication to the Porte to be neces
sary. No action, therefore, was taken by the
Poreign Office, and nothing further respecting
the proposed Turkish company was reported
home.
It may here be remarked, with reference to
the number of Turkish steamers then on the
Tigris, that the Vali of Bagdad mentioned that
there were seven Oman Ottoman steamers. This
statement was made during the stoppage of the
Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Com
pany's steamers at a time when the Turkish
authorities proposed that the British mails on
the Tigris should be conveyed by the vessels of
the Oman Ottoman Navigation Bureau.
When the prohibition of traffic on the Tigris
was withdrawn in August 1883 the company
proposed to make use of the three steamers and
the barges which they had on the river, but were
informed that, pending the settlement with the
Porte of the questions then at issue. Her
Majesty's Government were of opinion that they
must confine their operations on the Tigris and
Euphrates to two steam-vessels, and must not
employ barges.
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