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00121
ASIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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[December 29 .j
Section 1.
v*
No. 1.
Sir N. 0'Conor to Foreign Office.—[Received December 29.)
Dear Sir Thomas, Constantinople, December 22, 1898.
WITH reference tcrSir C. Scott's No. 372 of the 17th November and Sir J. Ardagh's
Memorandum of the 29th November on the subject of the "Kapnist" scheme for a
r^-Uway from Tripoli to Koweit, it may be of interest to record a rumour which has
reached Mr. Weakley to the effect that M. de Witte, who had given his consent to the
scheme (as, at least, Mr. Meyer stated), had subsequently been informed in Paris that
English capital and interest would be predominant, and had, in consequence, withdrawn
any support which he might have given it. The news of this change of front has, as
Mr. Weakley hears, necessitated a reference to St. Petersburgh, and Russian support is
not, as yet, assured to the enterprise.
If British capitalists are anxious to invest in railways in Syria, it is strange that the
Kapnist scheme should be preferred to that of Mr. Pilling, who has obtained a Concession
for a railway from Haifa to Damascus via Tiberias, which line has, I believe, been
surveyed, and presents, I am told, no great engineering difficulty. Mr. Pilling s line
would tap the Hauran, the best grain-producing district in Syria, and Haifa is, without
doubt, the best port of that province.
The policy of the Porte appears to be to push the Anatolian Railway towards
Mesopotamia, in order that communication with that part of the Empire should lead
direct to Constantinople. The German line is bound by its contract, as soon as traffic
receipts equal its guarantee, to extend itself towards Diarbekir, and it is not likely that
any other line will be permitted to compete. Thus it is probable that if the Kapnist
Company commenced operations at the two extremities of the projected route it would
not be allowed to complete the connection from sea to sea, with the result that, far from
creating a shorter route to India, the Company would end by building a line from the
Persian Gulf northwards, which Russia would utilize when the line through Western
Persia is completed.
I have referred to only a few of the many reasons which seem to me to make it
UiiUesirable for the Foreign Office to give any kind of support to Mr. Meyer and his
associates in the Kapnist scheme.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) N. R. O'CONOR.
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