'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎27r] (58/470)

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Qizil Robat.—Any police work in the early part of the year was done by the
Khamqm irregulars, and later m the year the presence of so many troops in the
area obviated the necessity of maintaining a force exclusively for the district. The
few men en er amed were used mainly as mounted messengers for the A.P 0 and
tor blockade duties.
The majority have since been transferred to Khaniqin, to form part of the new
force
10. Labour. A large amount of labour has been employed throughout the
year in lamqin and Qizil Robat districts, the chief works under construction
being—
(a) Maintenance of the main highway to Persia;
(b) C onstruction of the Baghdad Khaniqin Railway;
• (c) Repairs to the stone bridge over the Alwand at Khaniqin •
{d) Construction of road to oil wells at Naft Khanah,
in addition to ordinary labour always required by militarv departments.
Part of the above work has been done by organised Kurdish Labour Corps,
recruited m this district and others. 1
The recruiting of labour corps has had a considerable effect on cultivation,
especially m Qizil Robat district, where the demand for casual labour, as at Khaniqin
has always been very large. M ’
Casual labour is generally unsatisfactory and more so when it has to be
commandeered, and it is greatly to be hoped that with peace conditions this will
no longer be necessary.
i i, 1 * ^ CE i L i LANEOlJS -—( a ) Oil wells are found in the Division at Naft Khanah
and Chian iSurkli.
The Naft Khanah wells are at present worked by local methods. The crude
oil is taken to Mandah and Khaniqin, and is there distilled in small refineries and
the produce sold to the military and civil.
At Khaniqin the refinery is under political supervision.
At Naft Khanah a tax is collected by Government at the rate of Rs. 1 /- per
4-gallon tin of crude oil. The crude oil is used also by camel owners as a dressin°'
for camel sores. ' n
y At Chiah Surkh the wells were formerly worked by the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company. In the course of the war the plant was largely destroyed. The wells
are at present being leased to a Jew in Qasr-i-Shirin.
At Pushta, in the northern part of Khaniqin district, oil is found and also coal.
A sample of the coal has been sent to Baghdad for inspection.
Arrangements are being made for the proper development of the Naft Khanah
Wells.
(b) Subsistence Allowances .—The
Division monthly :—
Cornier Turkish pensioners
Dependents of prisoners of
war -
Miscellaneous -
following are
the amounts
paid out in the
Khaniqin.
Mandali.
Qizil Robat.
Rs.
Rs.
Rs.
680
350
322
410
694
1,180
440
nil
nil
(c) Blockade .—Until the Armistice the Division was on strict rations, as regards
blockaded articles, and at Khaniqin, in addition to the local blockade police, there
were 15 British police stationed at seven posts around the town.
One of the results of the Armistice, which w*as received with joy by all concerned,
was the raising of the blockade. It gave rise throughout the year "to bribery and
exactions on the part of the local police, and much petty annoyance to the inhabitants
and to the officers dealing with the numerous cases.
Khaniqin, being still a frontier Division, for blockade purposes has an outer
blockade line, maintained by shabanah.
(d) Jail ,—Civil jails are maintained at Khaniqin and Mandali, but convicts
sentenced to over six months’ imprisonment are generally transferred to Baghdad.