Report to the Government of Iraq on the production, storage and handling of grain in Iraq

Stockport [U.K.] : Henry Simon Ltd., 1937. Folio, lettered papered boards (edges rubbed), spine in binder’s cloth, three folios printed recto only, colour printed map of Iraq and neighbours showing the routes of transportation, ff. 37; a further 12 folios (appendices, including graphs printed in colour); three large folding diagrams printed in colour being engineering cross sections of grain distribution systems, a very good example.

‘Henry Simon Ltd was established in 1878 and had head offices on 20 Mount Street, Manchester as well as works in Cheadle Heath, Stockport, Stalybridge, Liverpool and Sydney, Australia. The company made granary equipment, mechanical and pneumatic handling plant for grain and coal, and elevators and conveyors for all purposes, selling to companies worldwide. The company’s pneumatic plants were installed at ports, flour mills, power stations, gas works, factories and breweries. Henry SimonLtd became established in the Far East as the leading British firm of rice milling engineers and equipped mills in Myanmar (then known as Burma) and in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (then named French Indo-China).’ – Science Museum https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/ap10876/henry-simon-ltd

This very detailed report, prepared by W. Rhodes for Henry Simon Ltd., printed in very small numbers for governmental distribution, outlines the present state and issues presenting the distribution and storage of grain in Iraq. Very recently granted independence from Great Britain (1932) and with the first exports of oil taking place (1934), 1936 saw a coup d’état ‘initiated by general Bakr Sidqi in order to overthrow Prime Minister Yasin al-Hashimi of the Kingdom of Iraq. The coup succeeded in installing Sidqi’s ally Hikmat Sulayman as the new prime minister, while Sidqi was de facto ruler of Iraq as powerful Chief of Staff. Bakr Sidqi’s reign would be short; he was assassinated the next year in Mosul, and Sulayman was obliged to resign his post. The overthrow was the first modern military coup in Iraq and in the Arab world.’ – Wikipedia.

The report discusses the means of production by local farmers, harvesting, transport, cleaning and storage, means of transport (from camel and donkey to using the river system, which frequently floods), to the countries main ports, with proposals for large scale storage and export.