'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎123v] (251/470)

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Patients as “ in-cases” cannot of course as yet be accepted; but by dressing
wounds, by minor surgical treatment, by issuing medicines, and by vaccination and
inoculation, very good work is done.
An outbreak of small-pox this year (1918) in January was suitably dealt with
by the vaccination of unprotected inhabitants and the isolation of the cases in a
special isolation camp.
The services of a medical officer or an Assistant Surgeon are lent by the Division
to carry on the duties of O.C. Civil Dispensary. The dispensary and the attendant
are supplied by the Civil Administration.
The sanitary section, Fallujah, consists of one British private i/c Sanitary
Section, eight sweepers, one sweeper and donkey, and two Turkish carts. Fallujah
sanitation during the past year has been satisfactory.
Public incinerators and latrines have been built, ruined buildings have been
pulled down, and roads have been improved. Fines have been taken from house
holders of obviously dirty houses as a commencement towards ensuring that
cleanliness shall be observed inside as well as outside houses.
Spanish influenza was very severe in this district, a high rate of mortality
prevailing among the Arabs. In the town mortality was not so severe, but quite
70 per cent, of the population were incapacitated with the complaint at one time or
another during the epidemic.
9. Police. —Police have now been abolished throughout the district, their
duties being performed by shabanahs.
Night watchmen in Fallujah and Saqlawiyah perform part of the old duties of
the Baladiyah Police.
10. Shabanahs. —The foot and mounted shabanahs in Fallujah district were
organised as such and given uniforms in July 1918. The previous Fallujah foot
police formed the nucleus of the new foot shabanahs, while the un-uniformed
mounted shabanahs, formerly employed at Abu Ghuraib and Radhwaniyah anbars,
formed the nucleus of the mounted shabanah force. B.O.R.s were obtained as
instructors, and from raw material a promising shabanah force has developed.
The foot shabanahs, being longest at headquarters, have made the best progress,
and are distinctly smart.
Various military guards have already been taken over by shabanahs. The
guards over the Fallujah Supplies Depot, the Fallujah railway station, and railway
police duty at Dhibban, have been taken over by the foot shabanahs.
The Khan Nuqtah, Muhammad Sa‘id, Ghuraib Road railway station guards
have all been taken over by mounted shabanahs. Mounted shabanahs also supply
the usual guards on anbars at Radhwaniyah and Abu Ghuraib.
The shabanahs were of the greatest assistance in maintaining the blockade
while it was in force. All blockade posts in Fallujah were supplied from the foot
shabanahs, while posts and patrols of mounted shabanahs along the Saqlawiyah
Canal (a favourite former route for smuggling) and along the entire river frontage
of the district checked unauthorised exports of food or goods to the enemy.
The rapidly enhanced prices in Mosul, which came into being soon after the
shabanahs were put out on these posts, are the best comment on the efficiency of
their work. By the sale of confiscated goods alone which they captured the
shabanahs may be said to have paid for their upkeep.
On the occasion of the escape of three German prisoners of war and an Indian
interpreter from Advanced Base, the Fallujah shabanahs detected the attempt of
this small party to escape across our frontier and arrested them.
The foot shabanahs now consist of 1 chaush and 22 foot shabanahs. The
mounted shabanahs consist of 5 chaushes and 62 mounted shabanahs.
11. Labour.— A large amount of labour, considering the population, is supplied
from this district, as the following figures will show :—
Dhibban Camp—Arab labour daily supplied - - - 600
Roads - 15 Q
Fallujah, including labour supplied to ambars and at Khan
Nuqtah railway station 150
Total - - 900
Ihe above labour is permanently in use and, in addition to it, large demands had
to be made on tribes to excavate canals or to repair roads passing near their lands.