IOR/L/PS/10/88

The volume comprises two parts discussing steamship contracts and concessions on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Mesopotamia (also referred to as Irak [Iraq]):

• part 1 concerns negotiations between India Office officials and representatives of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company, for the extension of the latter’s contract to convey mail by steamship between Basra and Baghdad;
• part 2 contains correspondence relating to the proposed merger of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company, owned by Henry Finnis Blosse Lynch, and the Turkish Hamidieh Steamship Company, which lead to considerable discussion and political controversy in Turkey in 1909-1910 (referred to in the British press as the ‘Affaire Lynch’).

The volume comprises parts 1 and 2 of 2. Each part includes a divider which gives the subject and part numbers, year the subject file was opened, subject heading, and list of correspondence references contained in that part by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.