"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٥‎٤‎٦] (١٢٦٢/١٠٦٣)

2546
Dr. Borers
report, 1901.
Relaxation
of the rules
at Basrah,
1903.
Characteris
tics of the
Turkigh
system.
repeated that Bahrain was an independent state under British protection ;
and an alternative proposal to re-establish the lazaret at ^Oqair was also
vetoed. How the question of Hasa was finally settled does not appear
from the records.
In 1900 Dr. Borel, a Frenchman^ was nominated to the post of
Sanitary Officer at Basrah; and in January 1901 he reported to the
Board of Health on the whole subject of the sanitary defence of the
Persian Gulf. He commented strongly on the severity of the system in
force at Basrah under which^ between March 1896 and September 1900^
no less than 409 steamers had been quarantined and 8,000^ passengers
and 20,000 members of crews had been subjected to isolation and dis
infection without any useful result except that a net profit of about
£4,000 sterling had accrued to the Sanitary Department from the
operations. A recommendation by Dr. Borel, to the effect that
quarantine against Gulf Ports not infected with plague or cholera should
be reduced (except for ships from India) to 48 hours after arrival, appears
to have been adopted. On the 26th of March 1901 the absolute prohibi
tion of 1897 against the bringing of Shi'ah pilgrims by Indian ships was
modified by the Board of Health, and such ships were permitted to bring
in future a number of pilgrims not exceeding 5 per hundred tons register.
On the 29th of December 1903 the Constantinople Board of Health,
on the motion of the British and Persian representatives, and influenced
doubtless by the views of the Paris Conference of 1903, decided that
the quarantine of 48 hours then in force at Basrah against Persian ports
should be replaced by a medical visit and disinfection, and also that ships
from Indian ports which had been more than 12 days absent from India
and had received pratique at an intermediate port in the Gulf should
receive pratique at Basrah after a medical visit and disinfection only ;
ships of the last mentioned class moreover, if they had been disinfected
at Bushehr and had not touched at any place between there and Basrah,
need not even be disinfected at Basrah. Effect was given without delay
to this salutary decision; and further, on the 15th of June, the
quarantine against ships from Bombay with clean bills of health but
unable to benefit by the 12 days'' rule was lowered from 10 to 5 days
to be reckoned as usual from the date of arrival at Basrah : in the case
of vessels from India carrying Shi^ah pilgrims it was ordered, however,
that the 48 hours' rule should only apply if the number of pilgrims on
board was 1 per cent, or less of the registered tonnage of the snip.
Indian pilgrims, as a rule, now disembark at Muhammareh, proceeding
subsequently by Ballam to Basrah, where they are admitted on the
production of proof that they have duly performed quarantine at
Muhammareh.
From the facts recited it will be apparent that Turkish quarantine
has up to the present time remained, by reason of excessive stringency
and constant variation of the rules, a serious impediment to commerce
and travel in 'Iraq. It may be added that its protective value is at the
same time very low. Many native passengers succeed in evading it
altogether, and the equipment of the Basrah sanitary station was until
lately very defective, there being indeed no hospital accommodation of
any sort 5 but recently—as already mentioned—a considerable sum has