"مذكرة تتعلق بالملاحة في نهري دجلة والفرات". [و‎‎٥‎٥] (٢٨٤/١١٠)

93
'
Sir P. Currie,
No. 408,
June 21, 1897.
To Euphrates and
Tigris Steam
Navigation
Company,
August 5, 1897.
Enclosure 2 in
Sir P. Currie's
No. 408,
June 21, 1897.
Sir P. Currie,
No. 526,
August 6, 1897.
Bagdad, and considerable correspondence relative
to the question ensued. It will be remembered
that in 1884-5 (see p. 74) the company asked
for permission to station a barge at Bagdad for
the same purpose, in view of insufficient wharf
accommodation at the port, but that the Porte
refused the request. ^ In the present instance
the consul-general at Bagdad advised that the
barge should be sent back to Bussorah, lest the
Porte should refuse, on the ground of breach of
privilege, any future application for renewal of
the permission to tow barges; and tbe company
were informed that Her Majesty's Government
considered that the Porte were clearly within
their rights in requiring the withdrawal of the
barge. Erom the record of an interview on the
subject between Vice-Admiral Emin Pasha,
acting Yali of Bagdad, and the consul at Bus
sorah, it appears that the company argued that
the barge was only meant for unloading pur
poses, and that, as they were allowed to have
barges in Bussorah, they were equally entitled
to have one at Bagdad. Emin Pasha main
tained that this argument was based on insufficient
knowledge of international laws governing the
navigation of rivers. Bussorah, he said, was an
open port, and the company therefore had a right
to use barges there ; but Bagdad, on the other
hand, was situated on the Tigris, which w r as
closed to navigation except for Turkish steamers
and for two of the company's steamers only, and
the company had no right to keep a barge there.
The consul admitted that Bagdad was not an
open port, but pointed out that, as it was open
by concession to the company's steamers, there
could be no harm in allowing them the barge as
a facility for unloading.
Sir P. Currie addressed a note verhale to the
Porte on the 5th August, 1897, consenting to the
withdrawal of the company's barge from Bagdad
on condition that permission should be given to
the company to tow barges when the Tigris was
low ; that instructions should be issued to expe
dite the discharging and unloading of ships at
Bagdad, in respect of which complaints of unfair
treatment had been made by the company ; and
that no hindrance or obstruction should be
offered " to the proper execution of the Imperial
firman granted to Messrs. Lynch." Pending the
receipt of satisfactory assurances from the Porte,
[163-1] ' 2 B
j
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