ملف ٤٧٢٢\١٩١٨ الجزء ٨ "بلاد الرافدين: الوضع" [ظ‎‎١‎٢‎٥] (٩٩٥/٢٦١)

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THE BA.QHDAD TIMES.
September, 83rd 1980,
THE BACHDiD TIMES
Offices near CLOCK TOWER COURT,
SERAI, BAGHDAD
Telep hone Qbntba l 88 .
Subscription and Advertisement Rates on
application.
Box Numbers are provided free for bona-fide
replies to advertisements.
THURSDAY 23 rd SEPTEMBER, 1920.
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Taken 7 a.m.. Sept. 22nd. for preceding 24 hours.
Thermometer Maximum ••• 97 3
Minimum ••• 69 7
notice.
Owing to the Mohammedan holiday, there
will be no issue oj the Baghdad Times to-morrew,
Friday. 24th instant.
CIVIL ADMINISTRATION DINNER.
Distinguished Gathering at the Royal
Cinema Hall.
Presentation to Sir A. T. Wilson*
A brilliant and distinguished gathering
assembled at the Royal Cinemi Hall last evening,
the occasion being a farewell dinner given by
the officers of the Civil Administration and re
presentatives of the British Commercial com
munity in Baghdad to mark the approaching
departure of Sir A. T. Wilson, K.O.I.E., C.S.I.,
C.M.G., D.S.Ov f ' Acting Civil Commissioner in
Mesopotamia, .me band of the 45th Rattray’s
Sikhs were in attendance by kind permission of
the Officer Commanding, and discoursed a delight
ful programme of m isic.
After an excellent repast, Sir Edgar Bonham
Carter, K.C.M.G., C.I.E., Jwiicial Secretary, pro
posed the toast of “Lieut. Colonel Sir
A. T. Wilson,” and said that his relations both
with him and with his father were of
particularly intimate kind, as he told his
listeners that he had Spent six years at school
under the patrie protestas of his father as house
master ana head master. He dwelt at length on
the gallant c ■>’ el’s brilliant connection with
‘Iraq, and said t\i Mhe more mass of work which
had fallen on the Civil Commissioner would have
overwhelmed a man of less energy. Sir A. T.
Wilson’s determination that Sir Percy Cox must
omeback to this country had never wavered,
somewha. regardless, he thought, of what might
be Sir Percy’s own wishes in the matter. Those
who had been privileged to serve under him
will always remember with gratitude the con
sideration, confidence and support which he
always extended.
Sir Edgar, in conclusion, requested Sir A. T.
Wilson to accept, on behalf of his father, Canon
Wilson, a portrait of himself, offered by some of the
senior officials connected with the Administra
tion, as a token of admiration for his work and
personal regard for him as a man.
Lieut. Col. S. L. Slater, C.I.E., I C.S., then
rose to speak on “ Lieut.-Col. Wilson’s Admini
stration.” After expressing his pleasure at the
opportunity of recording thetoa&t which Sir Edgar
Bonham Carter had so eloquently proposed, he
outlined the happenings in this country from the
end of 1918. The Army, in driving out of this
country the Power which h\h elected to cast in its
lot with Germany, had ineidentally made it neces
sary for Great Britain to do something about
finding a suitable successor to the Turkish Govern
ment, and it was with this last item that we were
particularly concerned just now, During the long
and damemug pause—some would call it a fatal
pause following the Armistice, a provisional ad
ministration had to bemaintained. TheWarOffice,
naturally anxious to relieve military expen
diture, pressed forward the tran 8 f er of quasi-
Military Departments to ihe contra! 0 f the Civil
Administration. The latter rapidly developed
itself to meet the growing demands, and in a
breathlessly short space of time a great part of
the outer fabric of normal civil Government
had arisen under the compelling personality of
Col. Wilson. Possibly, said Col. Slater, indeed
the very, forcefulness of h is Personality misled
him into imputing to the State that was to come
into being a desire for a fuller life, a more varied
existence, than it was in fact likely to aim at.
Supposing he had, in fact, limited himself to these
narrower ideals, did his listeners think he would
have escaped criticism ? He, the speaker, did not.
An ardent and outraged Press would have demand
ed why we had ousted the Turk if we could put no
better Administration in their place. The Ad
ministration of Sir A. T. Wilson had been pre
eminently personal, and the records of personal
files in the Civil Commissioner’s Office are a
revelation of the amazing knowledge he has of
his officers’ characters, and his continued sympa
thetic interest in every detail of their careers.
In conclusion, the speaker said that such a
character afforded the best guaranteed security
for the investment of our poli ical ideals, and it
is to qualities such as these that wise men anchor
their friendship and their life-long esteem.
Mr. T. D. Oee, O.B.E., on behalf of the British
Chamber of Commerce, expressed to the Civil
Commissioner the appreciation of the British
commercial community in Baghdad of his work
in Mesopotamia, both during the earlier stages of
the War and latterly while acting as Civil Com
missioner. He said that during Sir A.T Wilson’s
tenure of office British trade in Mesopotamia
had reached a level never before approached,
and had established itself so strongly that it
was in a position to face with equanimity the
competition which is ultimately sure to come.
The Chamber had particular satisfaction in
recalling that it was under his aegis that it was
established, and he was expressing the senti
ments of the Chamber in wishing him full
enjoyment of his well-earned, leave, and further
success in his future career, which, it trusts, will
be in the historic lands with the re-incarnation
of which so much of his life's work had been
associated.
Sir A. T. Wilson then rose to reply. He
said :—
I rise to thank you in the first place for the
warmth of your greeting to me to-night, and for
the very kind hearing you have given to what
Colonel Slater. Sir Edgar Bonham Carter and
Mr. Cree have said.
To Sir Edgar Bonham Carter, with his ripe
experience of other countries, with his steadfast
and sane outlook upon affairs, I am indebted
more than I can easily say. He came out to this
country when things were at their worst ; he will
be leaving us next Spring, and I trust that by that
time he will be able to say that his labours havs
not been entirely fruitless. Colonel Slater has
been a tower of strength to me all the time he
has been with us. Mr. Cree, my old and trusted
friend, as Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce,
and is one of our oldest inhabitants, has assisted
me and Sir P. Cox before me ever since the early
days of the War.
I was only told yesterday that it was the
intention of my hosts to-night to present me with
this portrait. The announcement has taken me
completely by surprise. To you, my hosts, and to
the painter, I offer my very best thanks.
So far as what has been said applies to the
Administration as a whole, to my officers, and to
the Army in this country with whom it has been
my privilege to be associated in war and in peace
for the last 6 years, I agree with it all. So far as
it refers to myself I can only gay it has been
given to few men in the public service to have so
full a life and such absorbing interests as have
been mine during the past six years. It has been
given to few to have ha.I such opportunities of
public service, with So much assistance as I have
enjoyed alike from the Army, from my own
colleagues and from the public If I have failed
in the task that has been set me it is not due to
any shortcomings of my staff nor from any lack
of help from others in this country, for no men
have ever been better served than Sir Percy Cox
and myself.
To Sir Percy Cox, who is at once my predecessor
and my successor, to him l owe more than to any
other single man the inspiration to continuous
effort. Two and a half years ago he left us tempora
rily to take up fresh work. Two years ago I urged
his return to this country uponan unwilling Home
Government. His impending arrival renews my
trust iu the future and is at ones a satisfaction
and a relief to me.
I have spent 13 years in the service of His
Majesty’s Government in Persia, the Persian Gulf
arid Mesopotamia, and I am amply rewarded
by what Mr. Cree has been good enough to say,
for my training as a Consul in early days has
taught me to realise the need of trade to the
British Isles and to the British people, and
whatever form of Government we may be led ,
in the future, at hme one thing is clear, we a.^
and shall always renain, not a nation of traders,
but a nation of ma:era of goods, and it is to the
members of the Brtish Chamber of Commerce
that we look to fin! in these countries the goods
which we need at lome, and to find a market
for our products.
While I am on this subject may I be
allowed to say tlat I have noticed a great
change of outkxk since the War amongst
the mercantile <ommunity in thiso parts.
It is not for nothin,' that most of them have done
their part in the War as public servants, and
have in many cass suffered wounds, captivity,
loss of health. ?hey have brought to their
business on return to civil life a greater knowledge
of the bounds of ofieial effort, and the trials of
public servants, ani of our common interests. I
have received veiy great assistance from the
British merchants of Baghdad myself, and the
Army in Meaopotania during the past 6 years has
also had from then, I feel sure the G.O.C.-in-
Ohief and his Staff will agree, very ready help at
all times.
I have sometimes regretted that it was neces
sary in 1917 to laj' such stress on the separate
existence of the Civil Administration of the
country and of the Army of Occupation. Our
aims have been sometimes divergent, and our
methods dissimilar, and though we have always
had a common object, vis. to do our duty by the
British Government and the people of this
country, the line of cleavage has tended under
financial stress to become more sharply defined.
It was originally devised by the late General
Maude in order that he and his officers might
devote themselves entirely to the defeat of the
Turk. It was maintained by his successor for the
same reason, to which was added later ou a
further cogent reason, vis. the armistice and
demobilization.
It has been my good fortune to serve under
not less than eight Commanders-in-Ohief. I have
learnt much from them all, and to you, Sir
Aylmer Haldane, as my Chief during these past
few difficult months, I owe no small debt of
gratitude for the patient hearing you have given
to the innumerable requests that I have had to
make to you from" time to time, from eaily
morning till after mid-night. The tireless
activity with which you visited every part of
Mesopotamia and Persia during the first 2 or 3
months in order to see things for yourself hig
been a lesson which has not been lost on me, anl
in my humble way I have done my best to profit
from it.
But I have kept you long enough, and I musi
bid farewell. To my hosts, the best fri nds that
man could wish for and the best of colit agues,
of whom I shall retain a lasting memory. To my
friends in the Army, from which I came, and to
which I have often wished to return, both those
on the Staff to whose kindly indulgence and
ready assistance in the past 6 years I owe so much.
To the Air Force, who have made it possible
for me to keep in touch with every part of
Mesopotamia, and to whose gallant pilots, i killed
engineers and mechanics, not only the Civil
Administration, but His Majesty’s Government,
owe so much and some of us owe our lives.
To the civil community here, British and
Allied, to whose friendly assistance and patience
under circumstances of great difficulty the
Administration is greatly indebted. To all these
I now have to say good-bye, and I take this
opportunity also of taking leave of those who are
not here and who are not represented, namely
the Junior British Staff of my own offic?, and of
other Departments, who have borne the heat of
the day and the uncertaintifs of life in Meso
potamia with a sturdy courage and endurance
which has given confidence to all associated with
them, and who have given me of their best
work, and the Indian Staff, whose services during
the emergencies of the past few months have
been beyond praise.
Finally I will take leave of and comm p nd to
my successor the Mesopotamian Staff of this
Administration on whom the uncertainty of the
past three years has borne even more heavily
than on us; though their dual alRgia’ ce has
frequently put them into a position < f much
difficulty, they have very seldom hesitated which
side to choose. I see in the excellence of their
work the best augury of the future of this
country.
Once more. Ladies and Gentlemen, my hosts
and my fellow guests, I thank you from the
bottom of my heart and wish you all good luck.