"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٥‎٨‎٤] (١٧٨٢/١٧٣٩)

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1584
Meanwhile various disadvantages of the old Residency had rnade
themselves felt. The site was central, with reference to the town •
but the quarters of the military guard were in another place • the
Residency building was falling into decay; and, in so far as the
Resident was concerned, the arrangement under which he occupied
a few rooms in what was otherwise a public office was inconvenient on
account of the want of privacy. The disposition of the rooms and
courtyards was appropriate from the point of view of a Muhammadan
nobleman possessing a large harem, but it was unsuitable for the
quarters of a British Officer. Moreover, the proprietor, after 1896
was an Honorary British Agent whose management of affairs under the
Oudh Bequest had given rise to unfavourable comments; his intentions
were uncertain, but it was believed that he wished to get the property
into his own hands ; and it was undesirable that the British Resident
(and it might be said the British Government) should lie under any
obligation to him. In event of his refusing to renew the lease, it was
doubtful whether other suitable premises could be found at Baghdad
at least on any reasonable rent.
In these circumstances Colonel Mookler, the Resident, drew atten
tion in 1892 to another property belonging to the late Nawab Iqbal-nd-
Daulah, which also had passed into the hands of Agha Muhammad; this
was a river bank estate of about three acres which he suggested
should be acquired by the Government of India as a site on
which to construct a new Residency of their own. Matters moved
slowly ; but in 1900 the purchase of the land at a cost of R;36,000 was
sanctioned and effected, the property being registered in the Turkish
Land Records Department, on the analogy of the British Consulate at
Basrah—in regard to which there had been a long controversy with
the Porte—in the name of His Britannic Majesty's Embassy at
Constantinople. The construction of the buildings, including public
offices, quarters for the Resident, a separate house for the Residency
Surgeon, military barracks and guard-house, a hospital, a post office,
servant's houses, stables, godowns and a high enclosure wall, was
entrusted to Messrs. Herman & Co. of Karachi, by whom it was
completed between 1902 and 1905 at a total cost of 53,24,303. The
new Residency was satisfactory in all respects, except that the public
offices and the Resident's quarters were again included under the same
roof, and that a house projecting further in the direction of the river
was subsequently constructed by the Naqib of Baghdad immediately
tier