'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎171r] (346/470)

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Officer was unable to deal with the , tapu work himself and left the work to ‘Ali
Elfendi, Mamur Tapu. As a result of which the tapu Mamur forwarded about
14 cases for approval to the Revenue Board, Basrah, up to end of June 1918.
A notice was received from the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, in June, forbidding
persons other than Arabs of Mesopotamia to alienate immovable property situated
within the occupied territories unless the previous sanction of the General Officer
Commanding-in-Chief, or of some other person authorised by him on his behalf,
had been obtained in writing. This notification was published accordingly.
‘Abbas Fadhli Effendi, Mustashar to the Revenue Board, was sent to ‘Amarah
in August 1918 for preparation of a list of tapu transactions which had been carried
through informally during the last three years, and for which formal sanction of
the Army Commander was now required. He was put to work under Major
Warburton, who was then supervising the tapu work in addition to his duties as
District Judge, ‘Amarah.
The following is a list of documents of transfer of immovable property not
registered in the Tapu Department, but attested by the Political Officer, Assistant
Political Officer, and Military Governor :—
Year.
Sales.
Sales by Mohammedans
to Jews.
Others.
Total.
1915 to 1916 -
89
21
63
173
1915 to 1917 -
94
11
47
152
1915 to 1918. -
4
1
—
5
330
On August 5th 1918 the following notice was issued :—
“ Between the months of October 1915 and March 1918 there have been
nearly 350 cases of immovable property which were registered in the presence of
the Military Governor or his deputy at ‘Amarah. Any person who has any objection
to any of these cases should give a petition to the Tapu Mamur at ‘Amarah or the
Tapu at Basrah declaring his objection before 20th August, and after 20th August
the Tapu Department will not listen to any objections.”
The legacy of “ Tapu Officer ” was handed over to Capt. Rivett Carnac
(Assistant Political Office district) by Major Warburton, on his departure to
Tehran on duty. The work involved is exceedingly intricate. Having no time
to attend to it properly he has represented the necessity of a special mamur for
this work, which is considerable, and trusts that his amateur efforts at overcoming
the difficulties have not as yet been attended by great loss to the State. The
question of Tapu is of great importance, and he has not yet touched the Tapu
Sanads appertaining to Tapu lands in muqata‘ah areas. There is a considerable
amount of this type of land in Abu Hallanah muqata‘ah for example. The estab
lishment of a Tapu Department, is of great importance from a Revenue point of view,
and, so far, the Tapu registration fees have realised the sum of Rs. 15,022/-.
(c) Waqf. —There is nothing of interest to report under this head.
(d) Miscellaneous and Special Revenues. —Under this heading are included the
following :—
(A) ‘Araq Farm —The demand was Rs. 21,500/-. Of this, Rs. 16,125/- has
so far been realised. This is a paying concern, and there does not seem to be any
necessity for starting an ‘araq distillery in ‘Amarah. Liquor is sold at 5s. 8J.
a bottle, and requirements for ‘Amarah can be supplied either from Basrah or from
Kut, if the Basrah supply fails.
(B) Fish Farm. —This was farmed out for Rs. 11,600/- for the year, and so
far has brought in Rs. 8,694/-.
(C) Salt Revenue.— This has brought in Rs. 2,021/- so far, and the supply in the
Government anbar is adequate at present. There is not any very great demand for
this commodity in ‘Amarah.
(D) Foreign Liquor. —Foreign liquor licences bring in Rs. 50/- a month, there
being one shop in Amarah selling the same.