ملف رقم ١٢٨٣\١٩١٣ الجزء ٥ "التجارة في بلاد الرافدين، إصدار تقرير تجارة جديد" [ظ‎‎١‎١‎٥] (٢٧٠/٢٢٦)

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maintained by Germans because he did not know his way about while in the Capital and
because he could thus buy all his supplies under one roof. Facilities should be given to buyers
to see samples before they place their orders. Finally British transport communications with
the Persian Gulf should be maintained in an effective and satisfactory condition. High rates
for ocean and river freight had handicaped British trade in the past.
Given good government and reasonable security for life and property^ Mesopotamia
should immediately attract foreign capital for irrigation, and road and rail construction, as '<
well as for minerals and oil, and the potentialities of the country for agricultural development,
specially in the matter of wheat and cotton should then be magnificent. .Such development
might be expected to induce a change in the character of the Arab inhabitants, who are intelli
gent, adaptable, and desirous of progress and also to increase largely their purchasing power,
especially in the neighbourhood of the towns. Agricultural machines and labour saving
appliances would be in demand. Baghdad and Basrah are destined to be increasingly
important^ both as distributing centres and as intrinsic markets.