IOR/L/PS/12/2852

This file is a continuation of IOR/L/PS/12/2851, and concerns the decision not to proceed with the proposed Haifa-Baghdad railway, but to focus on the improvement of road communications.

The file consists of reports on the proposals submitted by the Palestine Corporation Limited (see IOR/L/PS/12/2851 ff 14-30), and alternative proposals and surveys submitted by the War Office, the Air Ministry, and the Director of Public Works for Trans-Jordan. The reports were submitted as evidence to the Committee of Imperial Defence, Standing Ministerial and Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, and appear in the file alongside the Committee minutes, as follows:

• Record of a meeting held at the Colonial Office on 15 February 1935, to consider the improvement of road communication between Haifa and Baghdad, ff 126-133.
• Report of the War Office on the military requirements for the road, ff 142-147.
• Report on the Mafraq Road submitted by T T Taylor, Engineer in Charge, Nazareth, ff 154-156.
• 'Preliminary Report on the Section of Haifa Bagdad Road in Transjordan', by Mr Ghorayeb, Director of Public Works, Trans-Jordan, ff 157-213.
• Minutes of the Forty-seventh Meeting of the Sub-Committee held at 2 July 1936, regarding the Baghdad-Haifa Road, ff 114-121.
• Records submitted for the Forty-eight Meeting of the Sub-Committee, comprising Air Ministry Proposals and Estimated Costs, copies of despatches between the Colonial Office and the High Commissioner for Palestine, and a War Office Report and Estimated Cost prepared by Major R Briggs, ff 22-109.
• Note by the Secretary of the Sub-Committee, providing a summary of the proposed Haifa-Baghdad road scheme, ff 3-21.
• Folio 21 is a 'General Map of Pipe Line Routes & Environs', and was to be appended to the War Office Report.

The file also contains correspondence regarding the proposals, between the High Commissioner for Palestine and Trans-Jordan, the War Office, and the Crown Agents for the Colonies.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 2).