'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎178r] (360/470)

KUT DIVISION.
Administration Report of Kut Division for tlie year ending
31st December, 1918.
1. Political and Tribal.— The last 12 months have for the Kut Division
been in on is o expansion and rapid settlement. A year ago this Division only
included the Qadhas of Kut, Hai and Badrah. In June last Bughailah was
added, and m September ‘Aziziyah and all .the country on the left hank as far as
the Diyalah also came under the control of the Political'Officer, Kut.
The present Kut Division vpis between September 1915 and March 1917 the
battlefield up and down which the armies fought with varying success, and it
was only to be expected that the tribes who inhabited the land would be widely
scattered, and then areas for cultivation seriously damaged by the construction
of trenches and roads and the blocking of canals.
During the last year the satisfactory re-settlement of tribes in their original
areas has proceeded peacefully, and it is safe to say that now, without exception,
all tribes are located, if not always on their original lands, at least on land sufficient
for their maintenance.
The towns in the Division are all flourishing once more, and the number of
coffee and tea shops and tobacconists testifies adequately to the satisfactory condition
of the pockets of the people.
The Kut Division on the left bank extends from the Diyalah to the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
River and includes the Badrah Qadha.
On the right bank the northern boundary is the Nahr Qutbah, 4 miles below
Seleucia.
North-West Boundary. —The ‘Aziziyah portion, where it marches with
Baghdad, is bounded by the Diyalah and by the Tigris between the Diyalah
confluence and the Ctesiphon bend.
North Boundary. —The line across the desert described as the southern
boundary of Ba‘qubah and the southern portion of Mandali district in the
Khaniqin Division.
North-East Boundary. —The Turco-Persian boundary line from the
limits of Mandali to the Chayalah River.
East Boundary. —The Changulah River and the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. down to the Tigris.
The Kut al ‘Amarah Division includes ‘Aziziyah, Badrah, Bughailah and Hai.
The tribes of the Hai, Kut and Bughailah Qadhas are practically all Bani
Rabi‘ah, while those of the ‘Aziziyah area are Shammar and Zubaid. For details
and locations of these latter tribes see Appendix A.
2. Revenue : {a) Land Revenue. —All Qadhas of the Kut Division are at
present divided up into Shu‘bahs under Mamurs, each Mamur having a clerk and
qolchis under him.
This system, though producing revenue, is a most unsatisfactory one.
The chief causes of its failure are as follows :—
(2) The Inefficiency of the Mamurs. —Mamurs were in some cases enlisted
locally, and in some cases sent from Baghdad. With few exceptions, these men were
found to know nothing of their work, assessment of crops, &c., and some of them
were also lazy and delegated their duties to qolchis, who seized the opportunity
to extort bribes in cash and kind from the sarkals.
(2) The Dishonesty of the Mamurs. —A number of the mamurs were ex-Turkish
officials, steeped in Turkish ideals or lack of them. The rates of pay, too, offered
for mamurs are not high, and there were undoubtedly many cases when
“ presents,” or the non-receipt of them, from sarkals caused the mamurs to look
with lenient eye or the reverse on the assessment of crops. This year with a full
complement of A.P.O.s, a very considerable number of checks of assessment of
crops should be possible, and after the next saifi crop with two years’ shitwi