"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٤‎٤‎٨] (١٧٨٢/١٦٠٣)

im
(Mudeerlik) for Foreign Affairs bave been established for conducting the business of
Government.
In transacting the important affairs of the subjects of your Government in other
provinces (Sinjak), whenever anything may occur requiring settlement, it must be con
ducted in the same manner as is carried on here. In order to facilitate the business,
it i« necessary that the same should be communicated for settlement to the Lieutenant-
Governor (Muteserif) on the spot; and in case of the affair not being arranged on
the spot, it may be referred to the head-quarters of the Walayet. In conducting business
of your subjects with the Government, the affairs, or the claim, shall be represented by
an official communication, as the case may require, either to the Sub-Government
(Muteseriflik) or Agency (Mudeerlik) for Foreign Affairs, and, if necessary, it may be
communicated directly to myself, and, in my absence, to the Secretariat (Maaoonlik).
Several matters of local administration in Turkish "'Iraq, mostly belong
ing to the earlier years of the Sultanate of 'Abdul 'Aziz, call for notice in
passing.
References in official correspondence show that as early as 18C«5 the
Turkish Government possessed steamers on the rivers of Mesopotamia
and made use of them for administrative purposes; but no details are
ascertainable of their number, size or kind, or of the manner in which
they were obtained. They seem to have been occasionally attacked, or at
least threatened, by the Arab tribes. In 1807 a line of river steamers
under the Turkish flag, run as a commercial concern but under official
direction, was constituted under the name of the Oman-Ottoman Adminis
tration. The former Government steamers of which perhaps there were
only two the * " Baghdadi " and the " Basrah " were evidently transferred
to the new Administration ; but the concern is frequently described as a
*' Companyand the capital may have belonged in part to private
individuals. In 1869 the "Musal/' "Furat/" and " Rusafah/ ; built at
Antwerp to the order of Namiq Pasha about 1866, were added to the
Oman-Ottoman fleet. Two more steamers, one of which was named
the t " Maskarah " were subsequently added, bringing the number up to
seven. After the commencement of Midhat Pasha's rule at Baghdad
the steamers of the Administration were used almost exclusively for
commercial purposes.
Namik Pasha, during his administration of Turkish ^Iraq, seems to
have been required by his Government to arrange for the regular expoi'ta-
tion of a certain quantity of grain to Jiddah in the Red Sea with the
* The " Baghdadi" was built in 1859.
t The " Maskarah' was built at Trieste in 1871 ; by 1S83 she was useless and dis
mantled. The other new steamer was the "Tilafa: " she was destroyed by lire at
Basrah in 1884.