ARABIA'S ONLY RAILWAY
Source: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts , MARCH 21, 1913, Vol. 61, No. 3148
(MARCH 21, 1913), pp. 499-500
Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and
Commerce
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March 21, 1913. JOURNAL OF THE BOYAL SOCIETY OP ARTS. 499
« coming
travelling by sea. As to the goods traffic, Sind canals,
we must « besides being the largest irri-
gation
not forget that our present trade with Persia, canal in India, originated in the fertile
impor-
tant as it is, is not more in bulk than can brain of Colonel Fife. I feel qualified to speak
be carried
about
up into the interior of the country on mules, it,one
and after twenty years' work in Sind and
eight There
train will carry many hundreds of mule loads. years on the present project, which is now
with the
is nothing like the traffic at present that would Secretary of State. This canal will irri-
make
gate a tract
a railway pay, and the project does not seem to beof 5,000 square miles, containing two
a paying one from a commercial pointand ofa view-
half million acres of culturable land, much
We must therefore wait and see, as the of which is the best cotton soil in the world, with
present
Governor of Bombay said when speaking the exception of some parts of Egypt, but which
at Karachi
the other day, whether the political gaincannot
bybethe
cultivated to any extent simply for want
railway will justify the expenditure. of water.the
What On its present uncertain three to five
political gain will be to us it is difficult months'
to say.water
We supply, this tract now grows 100,000
know that Russia is advocating the railway, acres of cotton, partly irrigated by the aid of
with
Persian wheels, but when it gets a certain eight
the intention of obtaining the right of construction
of the whole line right through from the months' ample flow supply, it will be capable of
Caspian
Sea to the Persian Gulf. We remember, too, the in addition to other crops, 400,000 to
producing,
dictum of a famous statesman that any Minister
800,000 bales of cotton annually, which at sixpence
who allowed any foreign Power to obtainper a port
pound, on
or £10 per bale, will give from £4,000,000
the Persian Gulf would be a traitor to his to country-
£8,000,000 as the annual value of its cotton crop
Yet this is the very thing that Russia is alone. tryingMr.toFletcher, while agricultural expert in
do. Were her ambitions to be realised, not only Sind, estimated the annual value of this cotton
would all British engineers be cut out from par- crop at £12,000,000, but I have taken safer figures.
ticipation in the construction of the line through While cultivation is developing in this tract, the
Southern Persia, but not a single manufacturer or Rohri Canal without the Barrage will return a
firm, British or Indian, would get a chance ofgood profit from cotton and other hot-weather crops,
sharing in the orders for rails, locomotives, car-with a small area of cold-weather crops. When more
riages, waggons or anything else. Great Britain cultivation is wanted than the canal alone can
would only be permitted to construct the small irrigate, the Barrage will at once make it possible
and utterly unremunerative portion of the railway to increase it to any extent, by the cultivation of
through her own territory in the wild and hillymore wheat and other cold-weather crops. As the
deserts of Mekran and of Persian Baluchistan, all soil in the Rohri Canal tract can produce fully
goods going into Persia from England or Indiatwice as much cotton per acre as the average in
would be handicapped by the break of gauge andother parts of the Bombay Presidency and the
consequent trans-shipment and break of bulk at the Punjab, I do not think I am too sanguine in
junction with the Russian railway, and the resultestimating that this canal alone will produce
would be that we should lose the trade we now annually 100,000 tons of ginned cotton, or as much
have and Southern Persia would be flooded with as the whole of the Punjab calnals. This great
Russian goods just as Northern Persia is at present. increase in British-grown cotton, which will soon
Our only chance is to have a clear run without a be followed by further increases in Sind, will add
break on the Indian gauge all the way from Karachi considerably to the trade of Karachi, and will lead
to Isfahan, and unless we get that it appears to me to the establishment of a large number of ginning
that Karachi will be better off without any Trans- factories, which will employ thousands of work-
Persian railway at all. The claim of Russia to people. The Rohri Canal is expected to open up a
extend her Russian railway beyond the limits of million acres to cotton in about three years after
her own sphere appears to be utterly untenable. it is sanctioned, and its whole area in nine years or
less; and I hope to see an agricultural college
De. Thomas Summers, M.Inst. C.E., Bombay established in Sind, so that full advantage may be
Public Works Department, writes : - Nearly every- taken of this great canal. The following figures
one who is acquainted with Sind will agree with Mr.will give some idea of the size of the Rohri Canal.
Brunton that Karachi's greatness will owe little to Its bed width will be 330 feet, as compared with
the Karachi-Calais or the Karachi-Delhi railway, the Panama Canal's 300 feet, and the Manchester
but, as Mr. Thöle and Colonel Yate remarked, it Canal's 120 feet, while it will carry as much water
will be due to the development of its vast and as the Thames in flood, and could fill the great
fertile hinterland, in which the three canals of King George Reservoir at Chingford, which is
the Punjabi triple project will be completed and three miles long, in six hours.
working a year hence. With regard to Sind, this
almost rainless country, which is hardly known to
ARABIA'S ONLY RAILWAY.
the outside world, is destined to be a rival to the
While a Trans-Arabian line from Europe to
Punjab and to become the garden of India, on
account of the fertilising silt in the Indus water, India is held by many to form the most direct
and of its climate and soil, which will make it alignment and best means of approach for the
famed for its cotton, as the Punjab is for its wheat. future railway to our Eastern Empire, it is
The Rohri Canal, which will be the greatest of the interesting to note what measure of success has
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5Ô0 JOURNAL OP ТЙЕ ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS.' March n, im.
attended the only Arabian railway hitherto con- Medã 'in Salïh (955 kilometres from Damascus),
structed, i.e., that which runs north and south from a historical and archaeological point of view,
from Damascus to Medina and towards Mecca.
is described by Herr Blanckenhorn as the most
Herr Blanckenhorn, who from his previous
interesting spot on the line. It was the Egra of
writings on the same subject is known as an
Ptolemy, and at the time of our Lord's birth it
authority thereon, has contributed an interesting
was the border town of the Nabatseans' country,
article, " Die Hedschäzbahn," to the January which adjoined to the south that of the Sabseans
number of the Leipsic Geographische Zeitschrift ,
or Himyarites. The ancient trade route, which was
followed for several centuries between 800 b.c. to
and recalls some striking facts bearing on a Trans-
Arabian British line to the East, which would A.D. 109 (when the Romans came upon the scene),
traverse a country of very similar character to that
brought from the southernmost point of Arabia
and Cane Emporium on the Hadramau coast the
covered by the Turkish line, the two intersecting
one another at right angles in the immediate products of Yemen, India, East Asia, and Eastern
vicinity of Maan. Africa (especially gold and frankincense) to Petra,
The northern part of the Hedjaz line, 920 the
mileschief city of the Nabataeans, where the goods
in length, was constructed between 1901 andwere 1908,dispersed, and conveyed north and west to
the length being about the same as that of a the countries bordering on the Mediterranean.
direct
diagonal drawn from Basle through Dresden The ruins
to of Medã 'in Salïh are most noticeable
in respect of the rock-hewn temples and tombs,
Memel or Eydtkuhnen on the Russian frontier.
many of which are visible from the "train, and are
This 920 miles stretch of the Hedjaz line covers
the ground from Damascus to Medina, plus nottheunlike those of Petra. At the present day
El-'Ula, or 'Ala, is more noticeable than Medã 'in
branch line from Haifa to Der'a, which supplies
the communication with the Syrian coast. Salïh, being the most important oasis between
The facilities and convenience thus offered to Maan and Medina. There are wells and fine date
palms and citron trees, which stretch for several
Mohammedan pilgrims bound for the holy cities
of Southern Arabia, who formerly were ex-kilometres and yield more fruit than the popula-
posed to all the discomforts and dangers of thetion can consume. The inhabitants number from
3,000 to 4,000, the negro type being the most
ordinary caravan route through the desert, are, of
course, a valuable consideration and improvement conspicuous. The last section of the line from
Medina to Mecca is not yet completed, according
on the former state of affairs ; and the proportion of
to the latest information.
the total annual number of pilgrims - some 280,000
- that avail themselves of the railway becomes Herr Blanckenhorn concludes by urging the
greater and greater year by year. Formerly theimportance of disabusing the Mohammedan mind
caravan transit from Damascus to Medina cost of the notion that the use of the Hejaz railway
should be restricted to the true believers for
925 marks (£46), or £92 there and back. Now-
religious and military purposes only. He remarks,
adays the railway ticket for the pilgrims is £4
truly enough, that from every point of view -
single and £8 return, inclusive .of all charges,
commercial, financial and economic- the fullest
while the duration of the journey, which was
use should be made of the Hejaz railway, so that
formerly a matter of about two months, occupies
now only five days. the prosperous old trade route might be renewed
and communication be once more established with
The oasis and town of Maan (459 kilometres,
the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Akaba on the
or 280 miles, from Damascus) with its 3,000north and with Aden and the ancient Сапе
inhabitants was a very important halting station
Emporium on the south. It also opens up possi-
in the pre-railway days, and during the construc-
bilities of communication with the Anatolian
tion of the line was equally important as the
railway still further to the north, with the Cape to
headquarters and dwelling-place of the railway
Cairo line, and with Tripoli, Algiers, and the
officials. It is also the most suitable place for
Morocco Atlantic coast in the far west. So its
tourists to make use of as a base or starting-point
future is watched, especially in the East, with the
for visiting the interesting ruins of the ancient
greatest interest, where its connection with the
Petra, which are about a day's journey distant.
future Indo-Egyptian line appeals still more as
Maan is àlso the nearest station to the Red Sea,
a further link of Empire and of national inter-
the northernmost point- of the Gulf of Akaba being
communication.
only 110 kilometres distant as the crow flies. A
branch line from Maan to Akaba would be very
advantageous as a means of communication, com-
peting with the Suez Canal, and facilitating . EMPIRE NOTES.
commercial intercourse with Egypt. On the A Proposed Imperial Centre. - The idea of
other hand, the cost of constructing such a rail-
securing a site on Kingsway, facing the Strand,
way would be considerable owing to the steep
for the erection of a building or a group of
descent from the height at which Maan is situated buildings suited to the requirements of the
(1,074 metres) to the sea-level at Akaba, especially
Oversea Dominions for office purposes, and as an
when one bears in mind that a water-parting,
Imperial Exchange, appears to have much to
1,600 metres in height, separates the two. commend it. The location is one of the best in
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