could have been obtained more conveniently by private interrogatory. Drafting is a one-man job and this soon became apparent from the inordinate time taken by the committee in its endeavours to draft a new Penal Code. The real work has been done by Mr. Drower, the Government Counsellor, and his Assistant, Taufiq Beg Suwaidi, the Minister's brother. A very useful development in the organisation of the Ministry was introduced in October 1921, when most of the non-judicial and non-political work of the Ministry, namely legal advice to other Ministers and legislative or other drafting, was entrusted to a special section under the charge of Mr. Drower, who was appointed Government Counsellor and whose special qualifications have been satisfactorily utilised. A judicial inspectorate, one of the reforms recommended by Sir Edgar Bonham Carter in his last report, was also established and placed under Mr. Drower's section. Wider and more radical schemes of reorganisation were also initiated by the Minister, but his resignation for political reasons, which coincided with the date limiting this report, has prevented their completion for the moment. These included a proposal to substitute single judges for a bench of three in all courts of First Instance; the amalgamation of the Shi'ah with the Sunni religious courts ; a set of regulations for the appointment, grading and qualifications of judges, and a reorganisation of the Law School. Regulations for the latter have been agreed to, but will not come into force within the period of this report. The others require further consideration and should await the final settlement of the government and status of 'Iraq. Nevertheless the work and the ideas of the late Minister will be of the greatest value and assistance to those who may succeed to his responsibilities. 2. PERSONNEL. A list of the principal officials holding appointments in the Ministry of Justice on the 31st March, 1922 is contained in Appendix 12. All other changes in personnel have been over shadowed by the retirement of Sir Edgar Bonham Carter in May 1921. The success which attended his reestablishment of the Courts of 'Iraq has been already noted. The difficulties with which he had to contend and the reasons for his success have been described in previous reports. But his personal influence was even more remarkable than these practical achievements, and the affection and respect with which he was regarded by all classes were invaluable assets in the head of a judicial system. The irremovability of judges is a principle impossible to apply in the present conditions of 'Iraq, but the next best thing in order to secure judicial impartiality and independence is complete confidence in the justice and fair-mindedness of the controlling authority. This confidence Sir Edgar won and held through out. On the appointment of Mr. N. Davidson to succeed Sir Edgar, it was arranged that he should take over from him at the end of May, but events in the Sudan prevented him from reaching Baghdad till the end of September. Mr. Drower carried on as Adviser with great efficiency during the interval. The death of Haji ‘Ali Effendi Alusi, Qadhi of Baghdad, in January 1922, removed one of the pillars of the religious courts. The late Judicial Secretary wrote of him thus: "He was appointed Qadhi of Baghdad soon after the occupation. and introduced a regime of honesty into the Shar'ah Courts in strong contrast to that formerly existing. He is much respected and trusted and belongs to one of the most esteemed 'alim families in Baghdad". He was succeeded by Shaikh 'Abdul Malik Shawwaf of the Shar'ah Court of Revision. Mr. S. S. Abrahams, the President of the Courts at Basrah, retired from the Iraq Government to return to his own Colonial service on the 31st March, 1922. Both as Advocate General under the old Judicial Department and as President at Basrah under the new Ministry, Mr. Abrahams showed himself an able and highly trained lawyer and rendered valuable service to the Government. The rival attractions of employment by commercial firms, or employment elsewhere, have in the last two months cost the Ministry the loss of three valued officials in Khan Bahadur Mirza Muhammad, President of the Court at Hillah, Mr. M. P. Mehta, Criminal Judge at Basrah and Mr. H. F. Martins, Superintendent, Civil Court, Basrah. Each of these officials was invaluable in his particular sphere and cannot be satisfactorily replaced. Mr. Davidson was reluctantly compelled to accept, and even to encourage, their resignation, owing, to the strong feeling against the employment of non-Iraqis in the Government service. It is impossible not to sympathise in principle with this feeling, on the other hand efficiency has to be sacrificed to what is, in some cases, an unreasonable excess of national sentiment or mere jealousy; and it must be remembered that, under the Turks, the Arabs employed in this department (excluding menials) numbered only 35 out of 104, whereas in December 1920, they numbered 247 out of 289. Mr. Davidson endorses wholeheartedly the opinion of his predecessor in his last report that the British Staff in this Ministry (since reduced by a third) is inadequate in number for the duties it has to perform and that, if the present standard is to be maintained, permanent conditions of service must be granted. The number, position and conditions of service of British Judges in the future is under consideration in connection with wider questions and I have every hope that a solution satisfactory to them and beneficial to the Iraq judicature will be found. At the moment, however, it is impossible to fill vacancies and it may be difficult to retain even the present attenuated staff. The fact that the British staff was pronounced inadequate in number more than a year ago, and nevertheless has borne the difficulty and strain of carrying on successfully with diminishing numbers and increasing work, reflects the greatest credit on Mr. B. H. Bell who, as President of the Court of Appeal and Cassation, is head of the judicature, and on the four Presidents of the Courts at Baghdad, Basrah, Mosul and Kirkuk. I have already referred to the valuable services of Mr. Drower as Government Counsellor and temporary Adviser. No less credit, however, is due to the native judges and I can again endorse Sir Edgar's tribute: "With hardly a single exception they have performed their duties in a most loyal fashion and with the wholehearted desire of raising the administration of justice to the highest possible standard. The relations between these and the British staff have invariably been of the most cordial and friendly character." Mr. N. Davidson, during the six months in which he served as Adviser to the Ministry fully maintained the happy relations between Arab and British officials which had been instituted by Sir Edgar Bonham Carter. As the report closes, though he has been transferred to my personal staff, he is, with my concurrence, acting temporarily as Deputy Minister of Justice. 3.-STATISTICS. I regret that it has not been possible to collect or tabulate satisfactory statistics of the cases dealt with by the civil and criminal courts. This is due to a variety of causes which, it is hoped, will not recur. In the first place the period of 18 months is a difficult one to deal with. Secondly, the reorganisation of the courts after the insurrection has rendered it impossible to get statistics covering the earlier part of the period; thirdly, the transfer of judicial powers from Political Officers to the Courts creates another difficulty in tracing records and classifying cases. Lastly, the records of cases under the old administration were, in most cases, kept in English and therefore cannot be examined and classified by the present staff of the courts. Appendix 8 gives a statement of the crimes reported to the 'Iraq Police during the period in question. 4.-LEGISLATION. The following is a list of the legislation enacted between the 1st October, 1920, and the 31st March, 1922. This does not include Customs Notifications. and other orders and resolutions of the Government having the force of law. It will be noticed that, up to July, 1921, legislation was promulgated by proclamation; after the accession of H. M. the King, all legislative acts have been promulgated by Royal Iradah and published as laws. An exception to this is the Unregistered Sales Confirmation Proclamation, Sulaimani Division, 1922, which was promulgated by myself, the Sulaimani Division not being subject to the Government of King Faisal. List of Legislation passed between the 1st October, 1920 and the 31st March, 1 11 20. 1 11 20. 3 12 20. The Baghdad Penal Code Amendment (No. 3) Proclamation, 1920. 28 2 21. 1 3 21. The Disposition of Immovable Property Proclamation, 1921. 4 4 21. The Companies (Amendment) Proclamation, 1921. List of Legislation passed between the (1st October, 1920, and the 31st March, 6 7 21. The National Government (Transference of Powers) Proclamation, 1921. 6 7 21. The Baghdad Criminal Procedure Regulations Amendment Pro 5 10 21. 8 10 21. 19 10 21 3 11 21. 26 11 21. 25 1 22. (1922) 29 1 22. 21 2 22. clamation, 1921. The Unregistered Sales (Kirkuk Division) Law, 1921. The Customs Law (Silkworm Eggs), 1921. The Unregistered State (Tapu Hold Land) Confirmation Law, 1921. The Law of Transfer (Budget), 1921-22. The Budget Re-Appropriation Law, 1921-22. The Law of Auqaf Budget, 1921-22. The Vaccination Law, 1922. Regulations Prohibiting Government Officials from dealing in Land. 22 2 22. Unregistered Sales Confirmation Proclamation, (Sulaimani Divi sion), 1922. 2 3 22. The Legal Holidays Regulations, 1922. 5.-LAW SCHOOL. The re-establishment of the Law School and the result of its first session has been dealt with by Sir Edgar Bonham Carter in his reports for 1919 and 1920. In November 1921, Taufiq Beg al Suwaidi was appointed Director, in addition to his duties as Assistant Government Counsellor, and he has carried out the task with great energy and enthusiasm. On his advice a Special Committee known as the 'Committee of the Law School' was formed, consisting of the President of the Court of Appeal; Daud Effendi Samra, of the same Court; Nashat Effendi al Sannawi Procurator General and former Director of the School; Antoine Effendi Shammas, a leading advocate; and the Director. The Director and lecturers have prepared a set of regulations providing for a curriculum, examinations and the discipline of the School, which are now under the consideration of the Council of State. There are now 45 pupils in the first class and 40 pupils in the second class. It is hoped to form a third class of 40 pupils in the coming year, but it is feared that funds will not be forthcoming to provide for this extension. The Director has reported to me that the income for the past year exceeded Rs. 20,000, while the expenditure was only Rs. 27,000. He estimates that the cost of the extension mentioned above would bring the total expenditure to Rs. 50,000, while the income would exceed Rs. 30,000. The examinations for the current year have not yet been held. VII.-EDUCATION. 1.-ADMINISTRATION. Owing to political events in the summer of 1920, the administrative and inspecting staff of the Department of Education on the formation of the Arab Government was much below strength. Mr. H. E. Bowman, C.B.E., Director of Education had been withdrawn from the 'Iraq service by the Egyptian Government, his place being taken by Mr. A. L. F. Smith, M.V.O. The contracts of several other officials were cancelled and all vacancies were left unfilled. In the new Ministry of Education and Public Health, 'Izzat Pasha accepted office as Minister with Mr. E. L. Norton, I.C.S., as Adviser. On the departure of the latter his post was not filled, but the Director of Education assumed also the duties of Adviser in educational matters to the Minister. On the reorganization of the Council of Ministers which followed the election of H. M. King Faisal, Education was constituted a separate Ministry under Saiyid Muhammad Ali Hibat-al-Din Shahristani who continued in office throughout the period under review. The Director of Education for the time being continued to act also as Adviser. The combination of these functions threw a heavy burden on the official concerned, and was also the cause of considerable confusion, as the separate powers and duties of the Director, as distinct from the Minister, were not yet clearly defined. The budget of 1920 contemplated the creation of five educational areas. viz., Central (Baghdad), Northern (Mosul), Eastern (Kirkuk), Western (Hillah) and Southern (Basrah), with a British Education Officer in each area. The scheme, however, had not been put completely into operation before the disturbances. British officials were stationed at Baghdad, Mosul and Basrah, an officer was already under orders for Kirkuk and it was hoped to post another to Hillah in the autumn of 1920. Under the new conditions only two Arab. Education Officers have as yet been appointed, in Baghdad and Mosul; but Inspectors have been sent to all the areas and the nucleus of an organization has been formed at each Headquarters. The Schools in Sulaimani Division have remained directly under the Political Officer who has occasionally invited the advice and assistance of the Adviser. 2. HIGHER EDUCATION. Except for the Law School which requires from entrants only a low standard of general education, no institution professing to offer higher educational facilities exists in 'Iraq. Previous to the financial year 1921-22, the Law School was carried on the Education Budget though no effective control was exercised by this Ministry. As from 1st April, 1921, the School was transferred completely to the Ministry of Justice. A scheme has been set on foot by the King for the organization of a University at Muʻadhdham, a few miles north of Baghdad, but a sufficient number of qualified students is not yet available. The erection of buildings will, however, take a considerable time during which the supply of students will increase. Meanwhile a few persons have been sent to the American University at Beyrut and to Great Britain at the expense of the Government. No one of these has yet reached a standard of general education, through the medium of English, enabling him to enter a place of higher education without at least six months' preliminary study. The students should, however, be able to matriculate in September, 1922. 3. SECONDARY EDUCATION. The results of the work of past years is perhaps best seen in the expansion of Secondary Education. No uniform syllabus has yet been drawn up and locally recruited staff are in most cases much below standard. The schools have therefore chiefly depended on teachers recruited from_abroad: 81 Syrian graduates of the American University of Beyrut and one Egyptian master have been engaged, while four British officials give part of their time to the teaching of English. The language of instruction is Arabic, except at Kirkuk, where Turkish is the medium. In Baghdad the Secondary School has been housed separately in a fine building since April 1921 and its numbers have risen to 74. A fully equipped laboratory has been provided. A four year course is aimed at and the highest class is now in its third year. In Mosul the number of pupils in the Secondary School is 95 and the standard is approximately the same as in Baghdad. In Kirkuk the secular side of the 'Ilmiyah School was taken over as a Secondary School from 1st April, 1921, and in September a boarding section was opened for pupils from outside the town. It has in consequence been possible to suppress the final year in the local primary school and to substitute for it equivalent preparatory class at the 'Ilmiyah. The attendance is now 83 and the school is making progress in spite of the language difficulties in this Turkish and Kurdish speaking area and the lack of properly trained masters. The Basrah Secondary School remains small with only 15 pupils. It is, however, now a separate institution and a few of the students are boarders. A secondary class was opened at Sulaimani in September 1921 but only 3 pupils were enrolled. As they have some knowledge of Turkish it is proposed to transfer them to the boarding school at Kirkuk. 4.-TECHNICAL EDUCATION. Want of instructional personnel and the lack of suitable accommodation and plant have been serious drawbacks in the development of technical education. Difficulties have also been experienced in the mistaken view of its objects generally held by the public. Public opinion in Iraq is apt to regard a technical school as an orphanage or charitable institution designed to give a trade to boys who would otherwise be destitute. It is proposed to continue the training of artisans to assist in raising the standard of trades in which a degree of skill is required, and also to organise sections for the training of higher subordinates for technical departments and engineering firms. The latter should in time become the chief function of these schools. In Baghdad progress has been made in the training of literate artisans; the number of students in regular attendance has been about 70, of whom 20 were apprenticed to Railways. A large stock of instructional plant has recently been installed, and with the provision of better accommodation, the school should prove a success. The staff includes a British Principal and VicePrincipal. In Kirkuk the old Turkish Technical School has been reopened under an energetic Syrian Principal; some plant has been provided, and the attendance now numbers 60, of whom 20 are boarders. In Basrah a school has recently been opened under a British Acting Principal and a beginning has been made with 30 pupils. 5.-SUPPLY AND TRAINING OF TEACHERS. The supply of properly trained masters for primary and elementary schools has not kept pace with the demand. In all cases candidates with experience or training under the Turkish regime who have applied for employment have been tested by examination, and if found at all suitable and recommended on the ground of character, have been offered appointments. The chief handicaps under which these masters suffer are their weakness in Arabic and the low standard of the former training centres, particularly at Mosul and Basrah. Attempts have been made to raise the standard of these teachers by holding holiday classes in the summer months. At Baghdad and Mosul attendance has always been voluntary; at Kirkuk, in 1921, masters from the Turkish speaking areas were detailed to attend. Most of the larger schools have been supplied with one or more masters, trained since the Occupation, who have been able to undertake the teaching of Arabic. The Iraq Training College was opened soon after the fall of Baghdad; the number of students has been determined rather by the accommodation and money available than by the needs of the schools, and the output is still insufficient. However, in spite of the shortage of teachers it was considered possible in September 1921 to lengthen the course from two to three years. The attendance now numbers 92. In 1920, 30 graduates passed out into schools and in 1921, 32. The present standard of the College is somewhat higher than the Elementary Training Colleges in Egypt, and, in addition, English forms part of the curriculum. An Egyptian Moslem as Principal, three Syrian graduates, an Egyptian English master and a part-time British Instructor in English form the nucleus of the staff. 6.-PRIMARY AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. The schools in the Central and Western Areas suffered most from the disturbances of 1920. Many school buildings were looted and school books and equipment destroyed. The majority of the school staffs of the disaffected areas were in Baghdad for the summer vacation; allowances were paid to those who were left temporarily without employment and they were again sent out as conditions became more settled. On the whole their behaviour was admirable. The older type of schoolmaster who had been appointed to the district schools held aloof from the insurgents and their influence in Baghdad among the younger men was considerable. All schools were reopened as soon as circumstances permitted, and in 1921 it was found possible to open a number of new schools. Public interest in education continued to grow and soon after the beginning of the new school year, in September 1921, practically every school was filled to capacity. The number of schools in the period dealt with has increased from 90 to 120 and the school attendance from 6,182 to 11,474. 7.-FEMALE EDUCATION. The town and village Christian Girls' Schools in Mosul, Arbil and Kirkuk Liwas became Government Elementary Schools as from 1st April, 1921. They had formerly received financial assistance from the Department. The Moslem Girls' School in Baghdad, which was opened in 1919, has continued to flourish, as well as elementary Moslem Girls' schools in Mosul, Karbala and Diwaniyah. Additional Elementary Schools have recently been opened in Baghdad and Kirkuk. The total of schools is now 21 and the attendance about 2,500. A small training centre for mistresses is being organised in Baghdad. 8.-AIDED SCHOOLS. Except in the Northern and Eastern Areas, the Ministry of Education has not directly controlled the schools of non-Mohammedan communities. In the Northern and Eastern Areas the Government, in 1920, took over direct control of the Christian Schools to save them from extinction. The Carmelite Mission and the Alliance Israelite Universelle have given assistance to the Christian and Jewish communities respectively in Baghdad by organizing schools, while the American Mission under the expert guidance of the Rev. J. Van Ess, has conducted a most successful mixed school of Christians and Mohammadans 'at Basrah. These institutions give instruction up to about |