"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٧‎٤] (١٧٨٢/١٦٢٩)

Official
residence of
th^ British
repre.-ent-
ative at
Basr h,
1861-75.
1474
undue warmth of language. Namiq Pasha, after two months, withdrew
his complaint; but at this juncture he was transferred from Baghdad-
and his successor, Taqi-ud-Din Pasha, declined to recognise Mr. Minas as
Vice-Consul, or as possessing any other quality than that of Dragonun.
Sir A. Kemball referred the matter to the British Embass/ at
Constantinople, but their reply was : " No Berat can be asked for (for) a
f< Vice-Consul in a place where there is a Superintending Consular OScer.
" If the Vice-Consul is recognised as the medium of communifation
" between you and the Turkish authorities, we have no right to claim more.
The Vice-Consul at Constantinople is not officially recognised as such
" by the Turkish Government, though he holds his office by Foreign
"O^ce appointment/"'
Thenceforth Mr. Mina^ was described only as " Native Agent."
e have seen that negotiations were at one time entered into bf the
Government of India for the purchase from Colonel Taylor, the proprietor,
of the estate of Magil or Kut-al-Farangi, where the depot of the Eritish
Government steamers in Mesopotamia existed from 1839 to 1875, but
that they were abortive. A portion of the estate was rented b^ the
Government of India, however, for occupation by the British repnsent-
ative at Basrah until IS70, in which year Mr. Robertson, the British
Agent, left Magil and settled in a house on the site of the present British
Consulate at Basrah, on the right bank of the Shatt-al-Arab, a short way
below the mouth of the ''Ashar creek. In 1872 the property occupied
by Mr. Robertson was bought by an individual, who was described inthe
deed of transfer as " Haji Ibrahim-bin-'Osman-bin-'Abdul Waaid,
Maimani, residing in Mahallat-al-Pasha, Basrah," but whose name in
India, "where he was born, was Haji J Umr-bin- ; Osman-bin- ; Abdul
Maula. Jle wag the local agent of an Indian firm principally owned
by certain Osman \ ydina; and the name which he assumed at Basrah
was identical with that of an infant son of the head partner in the firm,
for whose benefit, it seems probable, the property had really been
purchased. This complication, or possibly fraud, is not without importance
in connection with the later history of the estate.
By an agreement executed in August 1872 between Mr. Robertson
and Haji Ibrahim,"^ the latter undertook to build a new house on the
property and to let it to Government during such time as the said
Government might choose to retain them, in consideration of a yearly
rent of Rs. 1,200 to be paid in quarterly instalments. In 1875 the Haji
repented of the bargain and asked that either the rent might be raised or