"رسالة إخبارية من المفوَّض المدني في بلاد الرافدين، إلى وزير الدولة لشؤون الهند" [و‎‎٩‎٠] (٢٢/٤)

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follows : 1 - Capital SUnk 111 this coulltr y ^ the end of 1919 may be estimated as
M 'SMUaneous assets, including Port (Hewett's report) £
Railw ;i ! / f 1 erred to Clvil Administration 2 000 000
Road to Sn mg aSSet . S , 0f Baghdad Railwa y s ) -
British Commercial capital at' present' locked up in 500 ' 000
country (shipping, banks, and trade) ... ... 5,000 000
The above estimate takes no account of military expenditure
10. ™iuS:„" P aiS'SU' «***■* -J <*Mm, . 50,000,MOi ,
Kurdistan (Sulaimaniyah region). ' lr0n ' ' are ^ow 11 to exist in
trebled since 1913 an^now 'stan^'i t (loo' onn/^' ffiCU ' 168 not 7 iths tanding, have
is from the United KiSm Shorf;T'!f ^ er ann ™' J of which 10.000,000^.
prevented the grLth ff export^ whTch st«nH PP f g fK nd , high frei g hts have
9,000,000^. exports which stand for the last 12 months at
These figures include transit trade.
16. At the present moment there are in Mesopotamia about—
200 British Officials of Civil Administration of whom 60 have their
<e " lu<li ° e """'""i-- "- J "I'" quasi military
200 British-born subjects in subordinate positions in the Civil Adminis-
80 ditti^ ^^h Mmriwraa^firms 1 ^ 8 and 0ther qUaSi military de P artm e^s).
50 European Foreign subjects.
4,000 to 5,000 Indians drawing over Rs. 200 in the employ of the Civil
j dmmistration or of British firms or in business on their own
account or m the employ of native firms.
This excludes Labour Corps personnel.
The presence of this large body of British and foreign subjects in the country
involves Ilis Majesty s Government and its representative on the spot in ^reat
responsibilities, and cannot be without effect upon the attitude to be adopted
towards constitutional experiments.
17. The currency of this country consists of Indian Currency Notes to the value
of about 20 crores of rupees and current rupees and small coin to the value of about
7 crores, together with about 4,000,000^. in Turkish gold which is scarcely in
circulation.
The reserve of coin which is held in Mesopotamia against the local current
Indian Currency Notes is about ^ crore of rupees, a figure considerably below the
safe minimum. t
Any diminution in the authority of Government would shake the local financial
edifice to- its foundations and would involve widespread disaster to British and
local trade interests.
18. I readily recognise that there are many other factors besides those referred
to above requiring the consideration of His Majesty's Government, many of which
are necessarily beyond my purview.
I have nevertheless ventured to place the foregoing local aspects of the question
before Government in the hope that it may yet be possible for His Majesty's
Government not to commit itself to a policy which must in the practically
unanimous opinion of its Officers in this country and of the local public operate
disastrously to the interests of this country.
19. I believe that the Divisional and Provincial Councils provisionally
sanctioned and now in process of formation, if allowed to develop and assisted to
assume a due share of local responsibility, will in a comparatively short space of
time give the public at large that measure of participation and control of their local
destinies which is necessary to ensure stability of the administration, and will serve
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