'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎144] (153/568)

144 ADMINISTRATION
ment of political or administrative ends. Occasionally, for very-
special reasons, the same officer might be invested with the highest
civil and military authority in the same vilayet, as was the case at
Basra in 1906-7 ; but as a rule the late Sultan had far too profound
a mistrust of his officers to put much power in their hands.
As regards the Provincial Departments, (u) the maintenance of
law and order throughout the country in times of peace depended
on the force which was officially given its modern name of the
gendarmerie, but is more familiar by its time-honoured appellation
of mptiehs. Their organization was military, and the force was
under the control of a special section of the Turkish War Office; but
it was distributed under the orders of the civil authorities as a mili
tary police. The zaptiehs were half mounted and half infantry,
and were commanded in part by officers seconded from the regular
army, and apparently in somewhat larger part by civilians who held
special commissions. The strength in each province varied with
local conditions ; in Baghdad there were supposed to be about 1,500
mounted and 1,000 unmounted zaptiehs; in Basra <350 cavalry and
400 infantry. As a rule they were scattered up and down the
country in small detachments, and, besides their proper duties, were
employed on all kinds of miscellaneous work, such as collection of
revenue from the tribes, furnishing of garrisons for posts, domestic
duties in the establishments ot civil officers, escorts for European
travellers, &c., &c. The men are described as not smart in appear
ance, but as useful and hardy. Whether the actual corresponded
with the nominal strengths of each troop and battalion is doubtful.
Their pay was very often in arrears.
(&) In the larger centres of population and in places of administra
tive importance there existed a purely civil police, whose authority,
however, did not extend to the surrounding villages or open country.
Its numbers wore small, and, when they required men, the officers of
the civil police were entitled to make use of zaptiehs.
(c) The tax-collecting and revenue account departments were
relatively small in numbers, as the taxes of which they held charge
were mostly farmed, but they were lucrative posts.
The tent and hut tax was collected, at the rate of Ss. 4cZ. (50 gold
piastres) per annum, wherever collection was feasible, from each
household of the agricultural population, both settled and^ semi-
nomad. Besides this household tax, a cess of lid. (5f piastres)
was levied as a contribution towards educational and military ex
penditure. These taxes were farmed.
The various taxes on domestic animals fell principally on the
nomad and semi-nomad tribes, and were farmed to the chiefs. Con-