Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎50v] (100/290)

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Mr. WaterHeld said that from the Treasury point of view we
would be glad to see the transfer take place as soon as P 0SSlD
because at present the expenditure was a direct charge upon
country, while the proposed transfer would convert it into a charge
on local revenues.
Colonel Wilson said that preliminary measures had already
been taken in order to prevent rivalry between the vaiious transpoit
services. It had been decided to have a single Director-General ot
Transportation, working under the Civil Commissioner, under w ose
charge not only all the railways, but also docks, wharves and river
transport in general were to be placed.
Sir T. Holderness said that he gathered it was not our policy
to place formally the railways on a civil basis until after peace ha
been finally declared, and the mandate for Mesopotamia had been
fixed.
Colonel Wilson said that was so, but at the same time he would
like to be free to enter into contracts with the necessary staff of
officers and men as from now. It seemed to him that steps should
be taken to do this at the earliest possible moment. 1 here was at
present a heavy loss on the running of the Mesopotamian railways,
and this deficit could not be substantially reduced until the various
lines at present existing in Mesopotamia had been joined up into a
continuous system.
Mr. ShuckbUrgh asked Colonel Wilson whether, if he were
authorised to enter upon these contracts, he would propose to
restrict them, in point of duration, within the limits imposed by
His Majesty’s Government in respect of other temporary contracts.
Colonel Wilson said that for most railwaymen the contract
would have to be for three years. Telegraphs had, he understood,
already been taken over from the 1st April on this system, and if
so by the end of June he expected to have all conscripts out of the
Telegraph Service. Ninety per cent, of the staff was at present
recruited in India or Mesopotamia. The cost per head under the
civil contract system would be three times as great if such extras
as “ proficiency pay ” were not taken into account, or roughly, twice
as great if all military extras were reckoned, but there were
corresponding economies in working.
Mr. Waterfield asked if the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. gave Colonel Wilson a
free hand for fixing services under contract.
Colonel Wilson said that his hands had been in no way tied,
and as regards the War Office, they were not only willing, but
anxious that the railways should be taken over by the Civil Adminis
tration. He was satisfied that all military requirements could be
met under the proposed system, but of course the military estimates
would have to be debited with the cost.
In reply to a question by the Chairman, he said that he saw
very little prospect of increasing the present railway stock unless
the Director-General of Transportation were empowered to place
direct orders in this country at once. The military authorities had
declined to place such orders. He was afraid the money could not
be found locally, and the Treasury would have to provide it.
Mr. Waterfield said that, by a recent decision of this Conference,
the expenditure of the Civil Administration on railways had been
hidden in Army Votes as part of the cost of the Eastern Army of
Occupation, so that at present the Treasury had no funds for meeting
civil expenditure apart from Army funds. In agreeing to this
arrangement the Treasury had stipulated that the expenditure should
be restricted as far as possible to military expenditure proper. This
was the first intimation they had received that the expenditure of
the Civil Administration would exceed the revenue.