‘REPORT FOR THE ARMY COUNCIL ON MESOPOTAMIA’ [‎8v] (21/94)

12
Half the chargee for roads and bridges would remain debitable to army funds. As explained above,
though they appear in the accounts of the Irrigation Department, they form no part of the expenditure
incurred on the agricultural scheme for 1918.
The Directorate of Local Resources.
25. It is now time to leave the arrangements made for producing the grain, and to turn to those made
for securing what was needed for the use of the army by the Director of Local Resources.
The duties of the Director of Local Resources were thus defined in General Routine Order No. 529,
dated the 18th August, 1917 :—
(1) The utilization of available local resources for the benefit of the Force, and, so far as military
exigencies will allow, in the interests of the civil population.
(2) Denying local resources of the country to the enemy, and drafting all rules for the working of
the Blockade by formations in the field.
(3) Preservation, for the use of the civil population, of a sufficient proportion of the local resources
of the country to meet their normal requirements, after the needs of the Force had been met.
(4) Regulation, as far as possible, of the price to the civil population of the local resources of the
country, whether by fixing rates, or by moving foodstuffs to areas in which there is a
scarcity. This includes control of such transport as is not taken over by the Force.
(5) Drafting the rules for the working of the Blockade by the civil authorities, in so far as it affects
local resources.
(6) Arrangements for the purchase, collection and despatch of such of the local resources of the
country as are required by the military authorities in other countries.
26. It was the duty then of the Director of Local Resources to take over the revenue grain from the
civil administration, to purchase bhusa and additional requirements of grain, to transport the grain to
where it was to be bagged, and the bhusa to where it was to be baled, and eventually to transport the
bagged grain, and the baled bhusa to the place where the Supply Department would take over charge of
them. The original estimate of expenditure by the Directorate of Local Resources in connection with
the 1918 harvest, other than that on the purchase of grain, was as follows :—
A. —Salaries, Rent, Wages, Contingencies
B. —Buildings, Roads, Light Railways ..
C. —Machinery, Weighing Machines
D. —Bags
E. —Transport
Total
Rs.
£
.. 38,75,000
(258,333)
.. 12,50,000
(83,333)
.. 16,27,000
(108,467)
.. 25,00,000
(166,667)
.. 45,50,000
(303,333)
.. 138,02,000
(920,133)
Of this a sum of Rs. 22,71,833 (£151,455) representing one half of the expenditure on (B) and (C),
and one-third of that on (D) was to be debited to the 1919 harvest. The expenditure on the 1918 harvest
was us estimated at Rs. 1,15,30,167 (£768,678). These estimates were regarded as not sufficiently
“th Ihe FiLnind th f‘ they C r' d , be The Director instructed to communicate
I, A ‘! vlser “ d ‘° work t0 lower figures. As regards the actual purchase of supplies
o^btain^or^h^armv^ft 6 8Urp l 1 . 8 °* V ton s grain and 150,000 tons of bhusa, which it was ho/ed to
per toft^n Ld RsTrnfl T L° V 5 ™’ P 0 P ulati on..would cost, at an average of Rs. 120
( } ST m g ?! a 1 R 25 ( , £1 ^ per ton bhusa > Rs - 1,77,90,000 (£1,186,000) in all.
are aTpresenTalallabl^t'iilJ’th^r 1 incurred b ? the Directorate of Local Resources
which Ce beermade bv tW 1? 7 , °. b amable f » r a considerable period. As a result of inquiries
-s', • s, “ fc *"
A. —Salaries, &c
B. —Buildings
C. —Machinery
D. —Bags
E. —Transport
Total
Rs. £
8.30.000 (55,333)
2.62.000 (17,467)
12,00,000 (80,000)
11.00. 000 (73,333)
17.00. 000 (113,333)
50,92,000 (339,466)
The original estimate was of such a general diRrari-pr fViaf * 4 - ■
comparison between it and the actual expenditure so far as it is ascertahaWe t0 “
entailing a radically dete.ve sysTm of accoulte “/dT* bgur ^f sb °“‘ d not be considered .
each department to keep an accL “current “count of »er * ‘T 381 ^ on fldd ^vice to requi
ments within the army, and accounts of this kind are noU pt ST r<indered t0 ° ther depaI