"مذكرات الحرب. مقر قيادة الجيش، الهند. [...] قوة المشاة الهندية «د». المجلد ٣٨. الجزءان ١ و٢. (من ١ إلى ٣٠ سبتمبر ١٩١٧)." [و‎‎٣‎٢‎٥] (١٠٠٠/٦٥٤)

Letter No. 13 ^ 95 ) dated the 17th September 19'h ^47 PENDIX 394
(Received in War Section, 19th September;) (Dy. No. 64154)
F r0 ni—The Secretary to the Government of India, Marine Department, Simla,
To—The General Officer Commanding, Indian Expeditionary Force “ P. ;i
In continuation of Marine Department letter No. 11918 (Dy. No. 5520")
dated the nth August 1917, I am directed to forward a copy of the marginally
* No. D.p. S.-67. dated the 3 rd September noted letter *;rom the Director of Port Ad-
1917 ministration and Conservancy. Indian Ex
peditionary Force " D/’ regarding the utilization of the dredgers belonging
to his Department and the possibility of effecting reductions in his engineering
staff. I am to request that you will kindly inform the Government of India in
due course of the action you recommend to be taken in the matter.
2. I am also to forward for your information a copy of Despatch No. 4>
dated the 20th July 1917, to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for
India, relative to the terms on which the Twante Canal dredgers “ Lees ” and
Campbell” should be made over to His Majesty’s Government for employ
ment in Mesopotamia.
Copy of a letter from the Director of Port Administrati n and Conservancy^
Indian Expeditionary Force “ D ” (at Simla), to the Secretary to the
Government of India. Marine Department, Simla, No. D.P.S.-6y, dated the
3rd September igi'].
1 have the honour to invite a reference to paragraph 3 and subsequent
paragraphs of my letter No. D.P S.-32, dated the 23rd July 19 7, and respect
fully to submit the following remarks for such action, if any, as you may think
desirable.
2. On the 27th January 1917, I received orders to push forward vigorously
with the dredging of a new channel across the Hamar Lake, and on my re
presenting that the work could not be carried out expeditiously with the one
dredger available, the dredgers “ Lees ” and “ Campbell” were requisitioned
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from Burma and sent to Mesopotamia. The dredgers in due course arrived,
but as the two terminal pontoons were unable to get across before the break
of the monsoon. I am informed ihat the progress of the work has not been
so fast as might have been anticipated.
* ^
3. I hove now received a telegram from my Deputy Director stating tha
owing to a change in the situation the dredgmg project has been abandoned*
and the dredgers are presumably lying idle.
4. The dredgers were indented r or by me especially for the Hamar Lake
project and are exceedingly valuable machines, the three i. e., tie £ ‘ Lees,’
‘ Campbell,*' and “ Oswald ” (which went up in 1916) being probably worth at
present prices ^400,000-; moreover, it votld be impossible to obtain similar
dredgers until a year or two after the conclusion of the war. Under these
crcumstances, 1 submit for consideration that as the e is probably an abundance
of work for the dredgers in India and Burma, it would be preferable for them
to be returned unless urgent and suitable work can be found for them in
Mesopotamia.
c. In my report on the Development of Mesopotamia, which is now in the
press'^ i have pointed out that the dredgers can be used with advantage in
connection with my scheme for the regeneration of the Tigr’s but l have also
shown the undesirability of attempting works in connection with the economic
development of the country until the end of the war.
6. There is one military work on which the dredgers could be employed
v ; z , the removal of the Kurnah Bar, but that proposal has been discussed and
I understand, abandoned.
They could also all be used on reclamation of land at Lasrah, which is a
desirable work of permanent improvement.
7. I also think it my duty to draw attention to the very large engineering
staff entertained in my Department, and' to she.v that considerable economies
can be effected.
I am informed that the only engineering works at present in hand are th
construction of a port depot which is now a permanent work for use after th
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