Baghdad Aug 13 Darling Father. At last I've got your letter from Port Said; I send the envelope in case you like to badger the Egyptian posts who are constantly doing this with overland letters. Of course I'll try again to catch you at Port Said but send me the name of your ship very accurately. My other letter must be lying at the P&O office. I am so sorry you did not get it. You sound as if you had had a very restful time in the Mediterranean. It will be most amusing to get your letters from Ceylon.
Well, as to us. Happy to say it has been a trifle less hot. I went on Sunday morning to the Museum, which is in the Sarai, for I had some work there, and called on my new Minister, Muzahim Pachahji, afterwards. He was most amiable. Then I called on Yasin and then on Muhsin Beg, Minister of Interior and a great friend of mine and Ken's. We're in the midst of the first and test round with the new Cabinet. By the treaty there are 18 reserved posts and 5 posts as judges for British officials, but each ministry (Minister and Adviser in concert) have put up a list of British officials whom they consider necessary outside the reserved posts. The most important, besides the judges who are obligatory, are the Inspectors in Interior and Police and it was arranged after much discussion that so and so many contracts should be given for periods varying from 5 to 15 years. Before Ken left, the King gave him his solemn promise to uphold this list - it's 18 officials in Interior I think, including headquarters staff, and 15 in Police. Now, urged I think by Yasin, H.M. declares that he will agree to the numbers but cannot see why contracts should be given for a term longer than the period of the treaty - ie 3½ years more at most. Sir Henry told H.M. before he left that unless they accepted the list as it stood he would advise H.M.G. not to ratify the treaty and Nigel has told H.M. and Yasin very firmly that if they don't accept they cannot expect that the British Govt will make any financial sacrifice on behalf of a state which will drop to bits in less than 4 years' time. I told you that the Financial Agreement under the treaty is very stringent; unless H.M.G. consents to forego some of its rights under it, the 'Iraq will be bankrupt. Added to which, they cannot hope to expand the army at the requisite rate unless we help them by guaranteeing a loan or something. This isn't really their fault for the rate of expansion was originally fixed on the basis of a 20 years' treaty, whereas under the protocol they find themselves obliged to build up the same army in 4 years.

Anyhow, that's the position and they've appointed a Cabinet Committee to consider it. It is a very bad piece of shuffling on the part of the King, but there! he is always overpersuaded by his last interlocutor. If Ken had been here it wouldn't have happened.

I'll give you an example of how essential our inspectors are - and how well they know it, really! Sasun came to lunch on Sunday and complained that all kinds of things had gone wrong during his 9 months' absence. "What sort of things?" I asked. "Well" he said, "the Yusifiyah maqtu'". (I must explain: the Yusifiyah is a new canal and the land it waters is all Govt land. Govt, therefore, when it let out the estates, leased them on a fixed rate of taxation, maqtu', instead of rates which vary year by year according to the roughly estimated value of the crops.) "I thought" said Sasun "that it would be a most valuable experiment, giving us data for comparison between fixed and varying assessments. But it has been neglected and it has all to be done over again. And when I ask Longrigg (he is Inspector of Baghdad Division) why he didn't look after it, all he says is that he has 3 divisions to look after Baghdad, Diyala [(Sirwan) and Hillah [Hillah, Al], and he simply hasn't time." I observed that that was quite true: four of the Interior staff were on leave after a term of service running to three years and there weren't enough to go round.

Mr Drower, Adviser to Justice, told me of a conversation he had had with his new Minister, Rashid al 'Ali. The Minister ws objecting to contracts beyond the treaty period. Mr Drower is seldom at a loss for an answer. He said: "You have now had 4 years of Arab Govt with British advice and your bench doesn't show the slightest sign of improvement. Whenever there is a case which is likely to excite public opinion, all your judges hide behind one another and it is usually necessary to put a British judge on the bench so that they may hide behind him. Do you think a miracle is going to be accomplished in the next four years?"

That is absolutely true and Nuri tells me that the Turks to this day never try a case which has any connection with political agitation in the Civil Courts. They always appoint a Court Martial. I think in the end, they will toe the line. I understand that Muhsin will hold out for the Interior Contracts; it will be very plucky of him, but he knows well enough that he cannot get a difficult job done in the provinces unless he employs the Administrative Inspector to stiffen and guide the hand of the Arab officials. I hope all this doesn't bore you.

We have come to the end of Muharram without incident, yesterday was the last day. I'm glad it's over. Every night for the last 10 days the air has been uneasy with the wailings of the processions mourning for Husain, their cries and the dull throb of the chains with which they beat their breasts. It is savage even from far off and it makes one feel disturbed. There is a little Shi'ah mosque a few hundred yards away behind my house and on the first nights of the month, when the moon was young, the glare of the torches flickered through my windows. The people work themselves up into such a state of frenzy that it's amazing some outburst of fanaticism doesn't occur, but it never does here. Sabbah, Nuri's son, aged 12, who is at the American college at Beyrout [Beyrouth (Beirut)] and is here for the holidays, was taken by his mother to the Kadhimain [(Al Kazimiyah)] mosque where on the 10th of Muharram, the last day of mourning, they reenact the tragedy of Husain's death. It's a sort of great mystery play. They beat their breasts with chains and cut their heads with swords till they're all bluggy. It's horrid. In the evening he was swimming with us, as he usually does, and he described with horror and disgust what he had seen. He thought they must be all mad. Think of that little modern boy, whose chief amusement in the day is to romp about in the water with the two nice R.A.F. officers who with Mr Cooke and me are the usual party, seeing his country men behave as if it were stil the middle ages! Sabbah is a Sunni; he thinks the glorification of Husain idolatry and the method of it barbarous.

He is such a darling little boy, such a stout heart, and he swims wonderfully. We all love him.

Sur ce I'm going out to swim; Sabbah has just telephoned to ask if we're coming. Goodbye darling. Your very devoted daughter Gertrude

I wonder how long my letters take to arrive?

I want some help from you, but I'm not sure that you will be able to give it till you get home. My Minister (Works) wants your advice as to a first rate Adviser to the Ministry. It includes (the Ministry) Railways, Public Works (roads, bridges, all buildings etc) Posts and Telegraphs, and most important of all Irrigation. I think myself, and so does my Minister, that the Adviser should be a first rate Irrigation man able to keep a controlling eye on the other Departments. I think Muzahim will probably write to Sir Thomas Ward for advice but he would very much like to know if you have anyone to recommend. This is a private enquiry.