TURKEY IISI 



The following new railways had been opened, or were in course of construction or had 

 been surveyed, between 1909 and October 1912, in European Turkey: Baba Eski-Kirk 

 Kilisseh, 30 miles, opened (concession granted to the Oriental Company); Monastir-Ochrida- 

 lannina-Adriatic Sea; Monastir-Istib-Bulgarian frontier; Prizren-Scutari-Adriatic Sea, and 

 the construction of a harbour at Medua; and Uskub-Kalkandele-Gostivar. In Turkey in 

 Asia, besides the work going on in connection with the Bagdad Railway, the following was 

 the state of affairs in October 1912 as regards the principal lines. Tripoli-Horns, in Syria, 

 65 miles, opened. Soma-Panderma, 120 miles, expected to be opened in 1913; the con- 

 cession for building this line was granted to the Smyrna-Kassaba Railway Company, and it 

 would establish a connection between the Sea of Marmora and the main line of this com- 

 pany. Ada Bazar-Bolu, 100 miles, building; concession granted to the Haidar Pasha-Angora 

 Railway Company. Hodeida-Sana, 190 miles, building. Medina-Mecca-Jedda, building by 

 the Hejaz Railway Company. Samsun-Sivas-Erzingan-Erzerum-Trebizond, about 1,200 

 miles; building by the Turkish government. The building of this line has been proceeding 

 very slowly, not only on account of financial difficulties, but also for political reasons. Russia 

 raised objections in virtue of the Black Sea Basin agreement reserving to Russia the sole 

 right of building railways in the northern portion of Asia Minor. The exact interpretation 

 of this agreement was in 1912 a matter of controversy between the two governments. 



Among other projects open in 1912 for construction of railways may be mentioned the 

 offer made by an American syndicate (known as the Chester scheme) to build about 1,250 

 miles of railways in Asia Minor in return for the grant of mining rights in the regions traversed 

 by the railway. The Turkish government, however, had made no decision in the matter. 

 Surveys were being made by English engineers for a railway between Jaffa and Egypt. 



The State paid in 1910 572,400 as kilometric guarantees to the railway companies. 



All the railways showed substantial increases both in gross and net profits during 1911. 

 On the main line of the Haidar Pasha-Angora Railway Company the takings in 1911 exceeded 

 the kilometric guarantee for the first time in the history of the line, and the government in 

 consequence received 13,000 as its share. 



Roads. A programme of extensive road-building was undertaken after the instalment 

 of the new regime. In 1910 a concession was granted to a French company to build about 

 6,000 miles of new roads in various parts of the empire, the work to be completed in 1912 at 

 a cost of about 2,000,000. But both the mileage and the cost were greatly underestimated, 

 and the work had to be abandoned. In the middle of 1912 the Turkish government decided 

 itself to undertake the building of these roads, utilising the surveys and the other preparatory 

 work of the French company. The approximate length of the roads proposed to be built 

 in the various districts was as follows: Constantinople, Adrianople and Ismid 750 m.; 

 Scutari, Monastir and lannina 750 m.; Sivas, Erzerum, Van, Trebizond and Samsun 1,350 

 m.; Aleppo, Bagdad and Urfa 750 m.; Smyrna, Konia and Adana 570 m.; Angora and Kasta- 

 muni 600 m. ; Mezere, Bitlis and Diarbekir 580 m. ; Damascus, Beirut, Jerusalem and Lebanon 

 280 m.; Brusa and Karasi 250 m. About 800 miles of roads have been built or repaired in 

 the Salonika and Kossovo districts. 



Harbours. Preliminary surveys were made for the construction of harbours at Tripoli 

 (Syria), Latakia, Jaffa, Mersina, Rodosto, Heraclea (Black Sea), and Amastris (Black Sea). 

 Agreements were concluded with the National Bank of Turkey (a British financial institution) 

 for the construction and the working of the harbours of Samsun and Trebizond. The esti- 

 mated cost of these works was 2,000,000. The Hejaz Railway Company is constructing a 

 harbour at Haifa, the sea terminus of the railway, while several other railway companies 

 are engaged in building harbours at their various ports. 



Irrigation. Plans drawn up by Sir William Willcocks provide for the irrigation of an 

 area of 3,500,000 acres in Mesopotamia. The whole region contains about 12,500,000 acres, 

 but the tracts which can be most profitably irrigated at present have been selected. The 

 total cost of irrigation works proper was estimated at 13,730,000, while the cost of preparing 

 the land for cultivation would amount to 12,465,000. The total sum necessary for the 

 execution of the project would be 26,195,000. It was calculated that the rent of the irri- 

 gated land would bring in a sum equal to 9 per cent per annum of the total cost spent on 

 these works. Preliminary contracts were signed in 1912 with Sir John Jackson for the 

 building of the Hindia barrage (on a branch of the Euphrates) and the Habbania escape. 



Among other irrigation works which have been undertaken in Turkey in Asia are those 

 in the region of Konia, which irrigate about 110,000 acres of land, and were finished in 1912. 

 These were executed by the Anatolian Railway Company, which has also undertaken the 

 irrigation of about 1,250,000 acres in the Adana region. Preliminary contracts have been 

 signed with the National Bank of Turkey for the irrigation of nearly 1,000,000 acres in 

 the Maeander valley in the province of Smyrna, and in the same province about 75,000 

 acres are to be irrigated in the Gediz valley. Work had started in 1912 for the irrigation of 

 100,000 acres in the region of Samgun, and of 75,000 acres in the Orontes valley in the region 

 of Antioch. In Albania surveys were made for the irrigation of about 2,000,000 acres in 

 the valleys of the rivers Maritza, Vardar and Drin. 



Trade. The imports were valued in 1909-10 at 29,542,000, and in 1910-11 at 35,548,- 



