'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎75v] (155/470)

of prosperity due to the British occupation. An c uqr holder has seldom any con
nection with the land, and in former days used generally to farm out his rights, so
that his previous income is usually determinable with fair accuracy. Claims to
‘uqr will certainly not decrease and, as in the case of Mallak’s rights, the enunciation
of definite principle is imperative.
I have invited the attention of the P.O., Hillah, to this matter also in a
confidential note dated 22nd October 1918, and the P.O., Hillah, has addressed the
Revenue Board on both the question of ‘uqr and that of the relation of Mallak and
Sarkal; but, as I understand, without result. I suggest that we adopt as a basis
the principle that no person or class should, as a result of the British occupation,
derive an excessive profit at the expense of any other person or class.
In the summer a notice was issued forbidding Mallaks to eject Sarkals, or
Sarkals to leave their holdings without the permission of the A.P.O. This order
was passed partly to secure to each party his rights and partly to prevent the
commingling of different tribes, since under the system of tribal responsibility it is
clearly undesirable that members of one tribe should migrate to the country of
another. Disputes were few but acrimonious, and most of the complaints came
from the Bait Manahim. No Sarkal was ejected if he had paid Mallak his dues;
but the Mallak was promised that the Sarkal’s holding would be inspected during
the next harvest and, if the cultivation was not properly carried out, the Sarkal
would be ejected.
(4) Collections .—All Shaikhs have guaranteed their tribes, and most of them
have been active in pressing on collections. The figures are given in Appendix A.,
and I consider them to be on the whole satisfactor}^. Bonuses, consisting of a
percentage of the collections, have been promised to Shaikh Hazza‘ and Shaikh
Murad, and I propose to grant similar rewards to the other Shaikhs also. There are
still some outstandings from 1917 which have been converted to cash at high rates,
and it will probably be necessary to remit or reduce some of these.
^ I consider that greater use should be made of the Shaikhs in collecting revenue.
Next season’s revenue will, I understand, be collected in cash, and I propose to
transfer the enforcement of demands from the Mamur to the Shaikh. The revenue
will be paid at the shu‘bah as at present, but all pressure against defaulters will be
exercised by the Shaikh, who will himself have to pay outstandings. I hope that
by this means the revenue will be collected more promptly than at present, the
Mamur’s duties will be considerably lightened, and it will be possible to realise
demands without sending gangs of qolchis to prey on every defaulting Sarkal, a
method which is naturally unpopular and open to manifold abuses.
I will submit shortly detailed proposals for the assessment and collection of the
land revenue for 1919.
(B) Tapu. Registration was under the A.P.O., Town, and has now been
transferred to the Judicial Officer who will doubtless report thereon.
Mahlul and Sequestrated Estates.—There are 16 estates in the district in which
Government holds a Mahlul share. In 11 of them the other sharer is the Bait
Manahim, who manage the Government share, submitting accounts monthly. The
Fanharah estate is managed in the same way by Hamdi Bey, but from all the other
Muqata ahs Government collects its share direct on the revenue assessment. Neither
method is satisfactory; there is no proper check on the landowner’s management
and the revenue assessment is unreliable. Of the two evils I would chose direct
collection, since by landholder’s management the mahlul share is not known till
long after the harvest, and the time and trouble spent in checking more or less
unintelligible accounts would be better expended otherwise. An alternative and
I think a better method would be to lease the mahlul share either to co-sharer or to
fearkals for a fixed amount; but the ultimate solution of the difficulty will probablv
be found m partition. . J ^
There are two sequestrated estates—those of ‘Ajil and Tzzat Bev The former
is not very extensive The sequestrated share of the one muqata‘ah and the three
baqkrahs were collected direct^ that of the three gardens was farmed out. ‘Izzat
y has shares m eight muqata ahs, all of which were managed by the agents of his
brother-m-iaw Hamdi Bey. Accounts were not submitted till the end of November
Zgres^^ The P rocess of unr avelment is
the Ckal? Jd it till tll \ se ^ ue ® tra f ted ^are of the muqata‘ahs has been leased to
mantel 1 ’ d U probab1 ^ be found Usable to treat the others in the same