'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎55v] (115/470)

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day. This is scrupulously clean and is inspected, as is every other shop, daily. The
coffee-shops are graded into four classes, are very clean and bear special signs and
decorations. They do a roaring trade. There is also a hotel providing Arab food
of excellent quality at a fixed rate. This is invariably full of shaikhs, merchants, &c.
The bazaars are drained in the usual cesspit system. This has been carefully
repaired.
Mosques. —There are two, a Sunni and a Shi‘ah. Both were in urgent need of
repair, and on the Td al Adha the people subscribed over Rs. 4,000/- for this purpose.
The money has been placed in the hands of a committee, one of whom is the Wakil Elected representative or attorney, acting in legal matters such as contracting marriage, inheritance, or business; a high-ranking legal official; could also refer to a custodian or administrator.
of Saiyid Kadhim Yazdi, and the repairs are now going on and will shortly be
completed. They include a house of the Katib of the Sunni Mosque (his salary is
paid by Government). Saiyid Kadhim Yazdi has expressed the greatest appreciation
of what has been done.
Government Buildings. —There are only two : the ‘Ambar, built by Irrigation,
and the Shabanah Barracks. Both are sun-dried bricks, and the latter especially
is an excellent piece of work. The wood brought in by the Shaikhs after they had
voluntarily destroyed their Maftuls has proved extraordinarily useful for the roof.
The building is capable of accommodating 80 Shabanah and 30 horses.
The town is fortunate in possessing an energetic and wealthy honorary Rais
Baladiyah. The work of the whole staff has been creditable to a degree. Last
year s budget, as in Ja‘arah, showed receipts and expenditure of Rs. 1,500/— per
mensem. Receipts here have again gone up and the balance at the end of the year
is over Rs. 4,000/-. Next year’s income is estimated at Rs. 30,000/-.
The construction of a wire-ferry is urgently needed and sanction was obtained
for a loan of Rs. 4,000/- from General Revenues for this purpose. The ferry is now
in course of construction, and the satisfactory state of the finances permit of the
repayment of the loan at once.
The town is an ideal one for the headquarters of a district, for trade and for expan-
sion. It is well laid out and not crowded. It will have a main road running direct to
Diwaniyah, and will almost certainly in the future have a branch line to Diwaniyah.
a^i/ S ce fd ie an incredibly rich district, with another road running direct to
Abu Sukhair and so to Najaf. The people are thoroughly go-ahead. The present
urgent needs are a dispensary, a school and a good Government building. There
is plenty of land and plenty of good sites. Next year should see the establishment of
ail of these.
Ghammas.—A small town on the left bank' of the Shamiyah Channel. It is
built on a foundation of reeds and probably it would be difficult to find a more
unhealthy site.
Owing to the high level of the water-table, seepage is everywhere evident, large
pools of stagnant wuter of every conceivable colour are the rule. Many houses
are islands, surrounded by this foul liquid.
It is therefore inevitable that disease should be prevalent, and every year there
is a fair mortality from small-pox and fever.
T M , ala ;: i /i 1 ??i eens were f ° und in 18 c hildren out of 20 examined, or 90 per cent,
lam doubtful if any remedy, short of the town’s removal to another spot, will be
by The Abu TabTht^y * ^ Pe ° Ple ’ ^ ^ is ° Wned almost entirel y
It is not to be expected that much improvement can be accomplished in such
a place. Many depressions have been tilled in, but the seapage soon works its way up
file present balance is Rs. l,853/-/9, and this will probably increase, as I am averse
to spending it on what may be only temporary improvements.
Both Umm al Bahur and Ghammas have a fruitful source of revenue in their
ferries. In a district watered such as Shamiyah, ferries are an absolute necessitv and
m\ch LrTaTeT deVel ° PS ’ th6 inCOme derived from will be very
owing to'lack 1 of staff ^“town St Stnd'in'a th Tfd
and settled area such as Shamiyah, this is a necessity Urn ‘urgency of wtch cannot be
exaggerated Actual administration is more than enough for the present Seal
staff, but the necessity of securim? cultivation ^ , P re . seri t political
in many instances for the Political Officer to give an executive and^tenf lmperat ' ve
on an extremely intricate land case, a casewhich will tako hht temp ^ ary orde ^
entire days’ work and would and should take a court a fortnight Y 86