'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎44v] (93/470)

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To complete the work at least 12,000 labourers daily are required, and, being
Arabs, probably 15,000 would be nearer the mark.
This from a settled population of cultivators was impossible.
The scheme involved a complete revolution of all known methods of cultivation
and irrigation, and this is a District famous for its turbulence.
Further previous efforts of the Directorate had had such an effect on the rice
crop that the Arab wrongly, but naturally, considered anything proposed by them
as impracticable and dangerous.
The new Chihat canal was the main item in the general scheme: among many
others the following objections to it were among the most important.
That the construction would involve the probable loss of about Rs. 5,00,000/-
of real property. That the level of the water-table was so high that the men
constructing it would in some places be working with the water over their heads.
Then considerable doubts were felt by the local Arabs as to whether the river
bed would scour sufficiently. If it did not, enormous loss would have been involved.
The whole of the left bank of the Mishkhab would have been put out of cultivation.
After many protests the scheme was eventually given up. It is to be sincerely
hoped that the immediate future will be productive of a comprehensive and workable
scheme, which will not be undertaken until such time as proper surveys have been
carried out and a closer acquaintance has been made with the local Arab and his
point of view. If a suggestion may be allowed, it would j)robably be found that
an Arab-speaking staff will be able to do infinitely more than the present, whose
linguistic qualifications are limited to Hindustani.
It is to be hoped, further, that all ideas of making the Mishkhab into a navigable
channel are entirely abolished.
There is no longer any immediate necessity for them. The country is now at
peace, and the crying need for facilitating all means of transport has ceased to exist.
At the same time new railways are being built up to the line of the Euphrates, and
it is certain that these will in a very short time be the main means of transport for
trade. Further, even should it be desirable to establish an auxiliary river transport,
it must not be forgotten that both the Military and the Civil authorities have over
and over again emphasised in war time that agricultural interests must first be
procured.
Assuming therefore that the navigation of the Mishkhab is not pressed, how can
the cultivation of Shamiyah be assured in the future ?
The answer seems to be in the direction of returning to former conditions,
that is, turning the present artificial flow below Turumah and past Shinafiyah back
into its original course down the Khasif. The existence of the rapids, working up as
they are, is a grave danger, and the possibility of the Shamiyah channel taking
change is even graver. &
The scour down the latter depends largely on the former. Could a means be
found to silt up the rapids, it would automatically remedy the danger from the
Shamiyah channel.
, Thi s was recognised even by the inept brain of the Turkish Administration,
who, no less than three times, started a scheme to erect a dam at Shinafiyah, thereby
holding up all the water from Kifl downwards, which would have the immediate effect
of restoring the status quo ante.
The present flow would be again turned down the original bed of the Khasif
rapids would silt up, and the whole situation automatically solve itself. Further ?
such a scheme would have the whole-hearted support of the entire tribal population
rri if 1 « du ™g the Turkish time was only due to their innate corruption
The last effort almost succeeded, but finally the Wall of Baghdad and the Daftardar
failed to agree on the exact division of Turkish liras 25,000; hence it went the wav
of most progressive schemes which the Turks undertook. ^
Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the intimate connection between
irrigation and political interests. It is particularly desirable in a District like
Shamiyah with its. arge settled population and its cultivation, and no opportunitv
should be missed of an interchange of views which would be of the greatest value
f her t,. + i ? n ,° C 1 l , oubt tha . t ' 1 wit h greater coordination and more detailed survey
than has hitherto been possible scientific irrigation will increase by many hundred
per cent the fruitfulness of this tract, but it is abundantly necessary to go slow
A tl0 , ugb ‘< lllck brained, is intensely conservative and violent changes in
methods forced upon him are neither advisable nor justifiable. nges