ملف رقم ٣٨٤٦ لسنة ١٩١٠ "بلاد الرافدين: شؤون بغداد. مسائل متنوعة." [ظ‎‎١‎٥‎٨] (٥٣٦/٣٢٥)

18
h
'IIP
i!
Enclosure 27 in No 1.
Consul-General Lorimer to M. Eram Bey.
DelrKEram Bey, .. L ^ . Bagdad My
I ENCLOSE an invitation for Major Najib Bey, which you will perhaps have the
kindness to pass to him, as I do not know his address.
With reference to our conversation this morning, may I recapitulate the chiet
points of what I then tried to say to you ? ’ . .
I do not wish to support British subjects in any unreasonable claims, but, m a case
in which it appeared to me that one of them was not being treated in accordance with
the principles of natural justice, I should consider it my duty to take action. It would
not be enough for me, in order to abstain, that the municipal or other authorities were
proceedino- Snder the Turkish law ; it would also be necessary that the law m question
should be^ in harmony with natural justice and with the usage of the most advanced
nations Thus, if it should be proposed to destroy or acquire the property of a British
subject without paying full compensation, I should feel myself obliged to move m the
ixi er
My first step would naturally be to approach his Excellency on the subject; but,
if his Excellency thought my intervention improper, or if, while allowing my interven
tion he found himself unable to grant relief, I should see no alternative to referring the
matter to the British Embassy at Constantinople. Of course, I should do so in a spirit
and terms perfectly amicable to the Bagdad Local Government, with whom I hope
alwavs to preserve the best relations, official as well as private.
For myself, I cannot think that the enlightened Ottoman Government of to-day
would wish to enforce a law, passed in other times, which apparently authorises
the confiscation of immovable property up to a limit of one-fourth without any
compensation. , „ ,
The value of property so taken might amount to hundreds or thousands ot pounds,
and cases are imaginable in which the loss of it might ruin the owner. It seems to me
very desirable, if it is possible, that provisional arrangements should be made at
Bagdad, pending new legislation, to meet in some way the case of the present
expropriations. . . ,
You may rely on mv doing my best to accommodate matters m any way in which
I can without exposing “'British subjects to what, from my point of view, appears to be
inequitable treatment.
Believe me, yours very truly,
' J. G. LORIMER,
ft
J if!
Enclosure 28 in No. 1.
Consul-General Lorimer to the V ali of Bagdad.
Your Excellency, Bagdad, July 28, 1910. _
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you two petitions from British subjects in
regard to the proposed destruction of property belonging to them by the municipality
of Bagdad. . . , ,
In so doing, I beg to confirm their statements that I have personally visited the
premises in question, and have assured myself that neither of them is in a dangerous
condition.
Pray accept, &c.
J. G. LORIMER.
Enclosure 29 in No. 1.
Petition addressed to the Vali of Bagdad, dated July 28, 1910.
(Translation.)
Your Excellency, _ . Q 4 - n n
AN employ d of the municipality recently visited the premises of Messrs, btep en
Lynch and Go. at Bagdad, whose local manager I am, and stated that a wall and six
shops, forming part of* the said premises, were in a dangerous condition, and wou e