ملف رقم ٣٨٤٦ لسنة ١٩١٠ "بلاد الرافدين: شؤون بغداد. مسائل متنوعة." [ظ‎‎٢‎٠‎٥] (٥٣٦/٤١٩)

J See last Summary, III-8.
§ See last Summary, III-7.
pality is being used as a milch-cow, and is not consulted or even informed as to
the manner in which its funds are applied by the v ali. Colonel Jawad Bey, an
engineer, one of the Wall’s military staff, has been invested with a sort of dictator
ship in municipal affairs and pays no regard to the Committee.
This officer, if my informant is to be believed, tried to persuade the
Wali that £ T. 20,000 would be a sufficient amount for compensation to the
owners of immoveable property affected by the new main street whereas the
committee gave it as their opinion that, if justice were to be done and the law
observed, a sum of at least £ T. 90,000, and possibly of as much as £ T. 150,000,
would be required. Musa Baig complained particularly of the Wall’s action
in the matter of the municipal motor-
* See last Summary, Hi-4 launches ordered from Messrs. Thornycroft,
of which he said the committee knew nothing. The committee, however, had been
called on to find a sum of £ T. 5,000, which the firm required in advance; and as the
municipality had not the money, Musa Baig,, after trying m vain to raise it in his
capacity as Acting President, had found himself obliged to borrow it on his personal
account He added that he had resigned office, and that the \\ ah had nominally
accepted his resignation, but had obliged him to continue discharging the duties as
before. „ . .. . 1T
(3) The fillmgt up of insanitary hollows
t See last Summary, IH-6. on the north-east side of the town still
continues.
(41 The date garden of ’Abdul Qadir (Khadhairi)—that in which the enter-
v ' tainmentj of the 30th June was given—is
understood to have been leased by the
municipality from the owner as a public§
park. The municipal committee will pay
rent to the owner and keep up the park, and all the revenue derived from it will be
theirs.
(5) The net proceeds of the entertainment]| of the 30th June were found in the
end to amount to about £ T. C30, and this
II See last Summary, HI-7. gum - g ^ging distributed among all the
schools recognized by the Turkish Government at Baghdad. The bulk goes, of
course, to various Government schools ; but among the other recipients are the
schools of the Alliance Israelite Universelle (£ T. 20), the Roman Catholic
School for the Blind (£ T. 25), the Chaldsean Schools (£ T. 16), the Committee of
Union andProgress School (£ T. 10), the Armenian School (£ Tl0)and the Church
Missionary Society’s School (£ T. 10).
(6) Another entertainment,—a river fete.—was organized by the Wali in aid
of hospitals, and took place on the _ 25th July. The Nahriya steamer Baghdad
carried about 250 European subscribers a few miles down the river in the evening
and returned towards midnight. Another steamer took a large number of ordinary
Baghdadis at lower rates. The British Resident and the Commander of the
R.I.M.S. Comet were the only two foreign officials invited to dine at the Wall s
table on board.
The European community at Baghdad are growing somewhat restive under this
system of compulsory “benevolences”. The tickets for the Baghdad weie sold
at half a Lirah each; those for the garden entertainment of the 30th June at one
Lirah (18 shillings).
(7) On the 2nd of July proclamation was made through public criers that the
lands outside the south gate, belonging partly to Government and partly to private
individuals, would be sold to the public for occupation at the low rate oi halt a
Maiidi per square metre. It was stated that the private owners concerned had
agreed. The object is to found a new suburb and relieve overcrowding in the city.
i (8) All houses and shops in municipal limits are being numbered. As the ^
streets in Baghdad have no names, the numbers for the most part run serially b| j
wards.
(9) An effort is being made by the Wali to get rid of the thousands of ownerless
does which infest the streets of Baghdad, and, if he could destroy them as they are
collected, the result would no doubt be beneficial. Many of them are unsigh y
objects suffering from loathsome diseases. Public opinion, however, is so strong y