'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎143] (152/568)

ADMINISTRATION 143
strative councils. Even the municipal committee of so large a city
as Baghdad, with at least 140,000 inhabitants, could not of itself
expend any sum larger than 200 gold piastres, or thirty-six shillings.
There were faults in the system quite apart from the vital questions
of the quality and qualification of the administrative personnel for
their work. The whole scheme suffered from ovei'-centralization.
The valis had no power of appointment over their subordinates. The
local councils and committees would, with their limited or rather
non-existent powers, have been in Europe, not to
speak of the East. A host of spies pervaded the provinces and
reported direct to Constantinople. The valis had no concern with,
and no power or control over, one-half of the administrative machine,
viz. the Departments of Public Justice, of Land Records, Posts and
Telegraphs, Religious Endowments, Customs, Public Debt (which
was virtually the Excise Department), the Tobacco and Salt Mono
polies, Public Instruction, and Sanitary Service. These departments
may be termed the ' Imperial' Departments, in contradistinction to
the ' Provincial' Departments which were in charge of the valis and
which are specified below. The local chiefs of the Imperial Depart
ments received their orders direct from, and reported direct to,
Constantinople ; though copies of such orders were sometimes sent
to the vali for his information, and it was his duty to investigate
complaints against the proceedings of any department in his vilayet
outside his control. Lastly, in Baghdad no less than one-third of the
Ifintjiki whole cultivated area was the private, personal property of the Sultan
(as will be explained below), which was managed by the Sultan
himself through his private staff. With this area the vali would
naturally not think of interfering. To some extent the same
; jisil condition of things obtained in the province of Basra also, where
. the Sultan owned a considerable private estate.
gtnnjdf.
Provincial Departments
The vali of each vilayet was the head of the non-Imperial,
^ otherwise the Provincial, Departments, which were : (a) the gendar-
, ^ merie, (fc) the civil police, (c) the revenue-collecting establishment
r L and department of general accounts. The vali was also the political
j representative of the Ottoman Government in his own vilayet, and
s# , j, the conduct of all dealings with foreign consular officers or foreign
""f i.j- subjects, and with the semi-independent tribes of the country (Arab
to*?! or Kurd), was in his hands. He had no authority over the troops of
the regular army in his province, but he could summon the military
^ ^ commander to take such steps as might be necessary for the attain-