"الملف 73/7 II (D 22) وضع الكويت - سكة حديد بغداد، والمفاوضات الأنجلو تركية" [و‎‎١‎٠‎٩] (٥٤٠/٢٢٣)

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Sir G. Barclay does not consider the present moment opportune for an
application to be made, but Sir W. Towiley, who has arrived in Tehran, will
fully consider the matter and report when jie is in a position to do so what is
in his view the best course to take.
I am, &c.,
Louis Mallet.
(Copy sent informally to the Army Department for transmission to the
Division of the Chief of the Staff.)
(Received on the 20th May 1912 with Political Secretary's letter No. 18, dated the 3rd May
1912.)
Enclosure in foreign Office covering letter, dated the 26ih April 1912,
3674
Board of Trade to Eoreign Office. (Commercial Department.)
(17619.)
Gwydyr House,
Immediate and Confidential. Whitehall, S. W.,
25th April 1912.
Sir,
I am directed by the Board of Trade to acknowledge receipt of your
letter of the 17th April (No. 13396), forwarding copy of a letter from the
Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company, Limited, relative to the
formation of a Syndicate for the transport by river of material for the Baghdad
Railway Company, and to offer the following observations thereon for Sir
E. Grey's consideration.
The Board gather that the operations of the new Syndicate are to be
confined to the transport of railway material, or that if permission to carry
general cargo be obtained it will be confined to downward cargo at rates not
lower t^an those charged by the steamship companies operating on the
Mesopotamian rivers. They also understand thafc there is no intention of
incorporating in the new service that of the Euphrates and Tigris Company,
which will continue as a separate undertaking; and that the new fleet will
be removed from Turkish internal waters so soon as the construction of the
railway is completed, unless some arrangement for its employment is then
made with the Turkish Government. These points, however, are not all
equally clear and the Board suggest that the Company should be asked to
state definitely whether the foregoing actually represents the facts.
In all the circumstances, and especially in view of the fact tha-t under
Article 9 of their concession, the Baghdad ilailway Company are entitled to
carry building and other materials, necessary for railway construction
in
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their own boats should they deem that course desirable, the Board are dis
posed to think that if the foregoing summary is correct, His Majesty's Gov
ernment need raise no objection to the general nature of the scheme, which
would appear to secure for the United Kingdom a substantial share in this
particular carrying trade, and in the construction of the necessary vessels. It
does, however, appear to them desirable that an effort should be made to obtain
from the Euphrates and Tigris Company an undertaking that they will not
transfer the whole or any part of their interest in the new Company, or in the
proposed Anglo-German-Turkish Company, without giving adequate (say six
months') notice to His Majesty's Government, and that an intimation should
be conveyed to the Company that His Majesty's Government reserve their
right to take such action as they may consider necessary should any scheme be
put forward for the utilisation of the new fleet in Mesopotamian internal waters
after the railway from the North has reached Baghdad.
The Euphrates and Tigris Company do not state under what flag the new
vessels are to run, and I am to suggest'that, should Sir E. Grey see no objec
tion, an enquiry might be addressed to them on this point.
I have, &c.,
H. Llewellyn-Smith,