'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎212r] (428/470)

405
Notes on General Revenue of Nasiriyah District by M. Muhammad Ramzan Khan,
Mudir Mai, Nasiriyah District.
, * li A '-- IST -- 0 N V^ he 0ffice of tlle Assistant Political Officer was separated
from the Office of the Political Officer in April 1918. Since then the following
Omcers nave been m charge of the Nasiriyah District:
O.B.E!7hem e t 1 T n G U OrgUl CaPt ' McDerm0tt ’ C ' LE -’ Ma j° r E - Harvey,
2. Tribes. The district is inhabited by the following tribes :—
Budnr^ HuSainat; (2) A1 Ghazzi ’ ( 3 ) A1 Ibrahim; (4) A1 Azairij; (5)
A1
The first four tribes are under Assistant Political Officer, and the last is under the
Political Officer of the Division.
• ii ?’ II EV ^ NIJE Collection.—T here are the following sources of general revenue
in this district:— o &
n u crop (collected this year only); saifi; dates; ‘araq; opium;
fish tax; tobacco; boat registration; stamp; kodah (to be started by
1 st January 1919); salt (abolished from 1 st January 1919).
Saifi and Shitwi Crops : Saifi. Crops. —Saifi crops are mash, izrah and simsim,
which are not cultivated much, hence the less income. One-fifth of the production
is assessed by the Government.
Shitwi Crop. Shitwi crops are wheat, barley (dukhan), both being grown on a
large scale. One-tenth of the production goes to the Government. This is the
first time that shitwi revenue was collected.
Assessment is done by estimation of standing crop. Parties of Khawaris
are detailed for this work (in October for saifii and in April for shitwi). The party
for both crops consisted of :—
1 nadhir; 1 mamur; 1 khatib; 2 amdah; 1 kharus,
to whom a remuneration for the work was paid.
Though there is no other alternative but to adopt this system till such time
as the land is surveyed, nevertheless I would suggest that, when the usual estimation is
being carried out, the land under crop be classified :—
{a) good crop; ( 6 ) fair crop; (c) poor crop,
and taken as standard for revenue assessment. Crops from these three areas will
be cut separately, thrashed and weighed in presence of Shaikhs, Sarkal and owner
of the crop. On the experiment the assessment may be made for the future. To my
mind this would be a system which will provide a check on estimation made by
Khawaris as well as being a source of greater revenue.
Dates. —This year trees were not counted, but the assessment was made on
last year’s counting. The trees are said to vary every year, i.e., a very uncertain
yield, and for this reason it seems necessary that the trees be counted every year,
thus only actual yielding trees will be assessed and the revenue will fluctuate.
There are 287 date gardens, and 13 kinds of dates are produced in Nasiriyah :
1. Khazarawi; 2 . Shawaisi; 3. Dori; 4. Zahdi; 5. Gantar; 6 . Maktun; 7 . Baraim;
8 . Shukkar; 9. Lilwi; 10. UsPamran; 11 . Chib Chap; 12 . Digal; 13. Habsi.
Fruits and Vegetables. —Following fruits are produced in this district:
Pomegranate (rumman), grapes (‘anab), figs (tin), apricot (mishmish), big orange,
sour (dumbalan), sweet and sour orange (numi), oranges (purtugal), kumassrah
(armut), apples (tuffah), quince (sifarjal), berries (nabuk), mulberry (tuki).
nectarines (khakh). It is said that before the war there were more fruit trees.
During the w T ar most of them have been cut by the Government for military necessities.
Fruit gardens are not separate, but combined with date gardens.
Vegetables, melons, &c., are cultivated freely in the gardens, which are exempt
from land revenue.
Fodder. —Practically the only kind of green fodder is lucerne (jat) cultivated in
gardens. This is grown extensively and very much liked by the animals. It is
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