THE BAGDAD RAILWAY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 260, 24 March 1911, Page 5

THE BAGDAD RAILWAY

BRITAIN'S ATTITUDE. By (.able—Press. A sfloeiatinn— I Copyright. Received 23, 10.30 p.m. London, March 23. In the House of Lords, Lord Curzon initiated a detailed debate on the question of the Bagdad railway. Lord Morley declared that if Turkey's settlement was acceptable, the Government was willing, upon certain condi-, tions, to use its influence with the Sheikh of Ivoweit to permit the terminus of the railway to be at Ivoweit, and to withdraw its objection to an increase in Turkish Cusoms. Britain was sincerely desirous of a settlement of the question, hut adhered to the position Lord Lansdowne, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, expressed in 1903. The chief obstacle to a settlement of the Bntrdad raihvay Question has been declared to be Great Britain's insistence upon the line from Bagdad to the Gulf being under British control. Turkey is suspicions of some possible ulterior design being behind this demand. It was cabled a couple of days ago that the company has agreed to the Porte arranging the construction of the BagdadPersian Gulf section of the line on the basis of Genjianv having an enqual participation with any foreign Power. The Bagdad railway, when complete, | will run from Konia. in Asia Minor, where it joins the railways to Smyrna and Haidar Pasha (opposite Constantinople). throuffh Bagdad to the Persian Gulf, giving a short route from Eastern Europe to Persia. The reconcession for it was granted in 1003 by Turkey to the Anatolian Railway Company, and bv that corporation was made over to the Bagdad Railway Company, which is in German hands.' The length of the line will be 1400 miles, of which only some 150 miles are as yet complete. The nominal capital of the Bagdad Railway Company is only £OOO.OOO, and is largely in the hands of the Deutsche Bank, which thus controls the policy. The cost of the line will be about £12,000.000, and the interest is to be provided by the Turkish Government, which guarantees I a certain annual payment, for each mile completed.