MESOPOTAMIA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 659, 9 November 1909, Page 5

MESOPOTAMIA.

(■ AND IRRIGATION SCHEME. :,■ TO' MEDITERRANEAN. ,;. .J: ■;"' SIE-.WILLIAH WILLCOCKS'S PLANS.'. ;;■: ■(.By.fl'elesraph'.—Presa' Association.—Copyrljtiit.) . ; : ;-' : ■■?:■■ ■''■<"■ ';fflec; November.B', 10.30 p.m.), ■ ' .■'■■ '. . .■;,,..;■■ s'V ■.■■,'■ Constantinople,. November- 8. j , - ■.has■'.submitted a.'.further report on his scheme •; has.submitted a'furthcr report in his.schomo ; to.-irrigato and develop Mesopotamia, ; onco .a ■ great, ■..world-granarj-. .■'■ ■..-■■::..- .He emphasises'the opinion of merchants of * Mesopotamia that ■ communication between . Bagdad (on the' river Tigris) and- the PerVsianGulf is not what the Delta , (the Eu- » phrates-Tigris.-valley lands) requires. The ,;' .principal market for the products of this 1 country is tie Eastern- Mediterranean, and I Europe ■•' '' " -~,' '.. ■■• '■...•'.' ■■•"■■' '• .: ■ Sir-."VVm. Willcocks recommends tho construction of a railway,' 800 miles in. ■ length, from Bagdad westward to Damascus, where it ..■■ would join up with the line connecting Damas- ': cuswith the Levant, seaport Beirut;. thu3 plac- - ing.Bagdad and Mesopotamia in. direct rail- ' way communication with the Eastern Moditert - ranoan. .)' ; ■■ ■'.., :...■...■■ ■ ..-.. .!. •'. ■. . ■•■ Such a railway would afford cheap transit f for goods' from and to Mesopotamia, also , a 1- profitable traffic in Persian goods sent -west- , J ward. Moreover, pilgrims, going tq Mecca from Central Asia would travel by the railway ■ from [ Bagdad to Damascus, then ■ tako tho Damas- : ous-Hedja! , , railway, thus rendering remunerative the latter line (which'ie being built by 1 Turkey into Arabia, in the'interests of MosJ lem pilgrims). ■■: ■;' '■''.' ;' ■ ; ■ '.. t The opening of Arabia would attract thou- : sands-of European and American tourists. ■ Sir, Wm.. Vfillcocks estimates' the cost of the 1 Bagdad-Damascus railway at : .£2,500,000,., and ; the profit at iCIIO.OOO a yem or over i ■ per cent. ■■ Thus, before the proposed great irri- ! gation works were :begnn, the railway would ! be yielding a result. ; .'■ : : , The. total ■ cost of the' irrigation works in I connection '-with the rivers Euphrates and, . Tigris is estimated at upwards of a million i each.; . '-.■ :': '■ :.\. , ■ .' "-\. .. •-..-. 1 Wj,X s difficult to see how such, a'railway ;. would fail to be a keen competitor with Geri ™ al Vr s Projected Bagdad railway. .The route, of. the latter follows a more northerly .and . much longer course, through Asia Minor.]