MODERN MIRACLE WORKER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 920, 13 September 1910, Page 5

MODERN MIRACLE WORKER.

RECLAIMING A DESERT.

SIR W. WILLCOCKS TO BEGIN WORK

INMESOPOTAMIA^

A HUGE SCHEME. (

By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright.

(Rec. September 12, 9.20 p.m.)

London; September'l2. '.' Sir William Willcocks, adviser to 'the Turkish Minister for Public Works, and designer of the great Assuan : dam in Egypt, lias started for Mesopotamia in connection 'with'his scheme for irrigating the Euphrates -Valley, now a sandy wilderness, and making it again a centre of activity such as it has not been since the days of Babylonia.. v ■! Sir William will arrange for the irrigation of an area, of two and a half mil-, lion acres. This is to be attained by the construction of three main canals along the Tigris and. Euphrates River 6. Barrages will also be constructed. on the' rivers. '■':•■ • ';•'•■>-. :; '.''

It is estimated that the -preliminary .work will cost .£4,000,000, and ■will - occupy six years. . ' .''■'. .... .TO RECREATE CHALDEA. : ;It was stated.-in 1908 that Sir William Willcocks had. been engaged' by.. the Turkish Government to ', supervise the contemplated irrigation and canalisation works in Mesopotamia and; elsewhere. Sir William,.in 1905, surveyed, : the country, and upon his return to Bombaygave enthusiastic estimates of the future of-this ancient granary. His'appoint-, ment enabled him- "to devote himself-'to the attainment of the. dream of his life." says the "Times of India"—"the • recreation of Chaldea." ■'■'■'':". ' "The magnitude.of the echemo'may be' judged from the fact .that rough;., estimates place the irrigable area a& nearly 3,000,000 acres, the expenditure ;' at J!21,000,000 -sterling, and' the capital' value of .the. land, when irrigated, .at .£60,000,000.; '.■■ }~.■■:■[■;} .■'■•."••■

■■' "Nothing is needed but money, brains, and labour to make, the Tigr'o-Euplirates Talley. just, such a waving wheat-held, as the Cherub and Thelum Canal colonies. The desert will blossom like. i ' garden! new cities; wi 11 rise on the ruins of the' mighty memories of the "Assyrian, and Sassnnian ;Icings.,- :, •'-. . " "Basra-will become another Hamburg or Antwerp,', and India -will find In .'the Tigro-Euplirates. Valley a. field, for <colot nisation and tradei .rich: .beyond. the dreams of • avarice." ~'•' . ": ;'y

•_■ When asked", by a press representative to. explain the irrigation'-; soheme. in■. a general way, Sir. William' Willcooks replied :—"Babylonia, or. Lower Mesopotamia, was a heavily Cultivated and dense-: ■ly populated country for, many sands of -years; y.'lts prosperity;- depended ou numerous' icanals ' fed from .: the Euphrates and the Tigris...'-: The.: total area of the delta is 6ome. 14,000,000 acres, of which .5,000,000 acres': must'ihave been : cultivated .(practically the-.,same area 'as Egypt). -. Between A.D-.. 1200 and'l3oo-the. country : was .overrun.: by Mongols,, and' again about'l4oo .by ; Tartars,.'and'-"utterly; ruined;-'while' 1 to., 'complete,: I the'■'c'atas-■ trophe,. the Tigris, changed its -.course north and;south of Baghdad, 'and..threw 'the country: into .complete confusion'..H. propose.to bring back a ,state. v of ..affairs which will make .this delta "as■}rich, as Egyjlt, and on«; of the great-cotton pro; dupers of .the' world.i<l consider'; the Mesopotamia' will' be the Johannesburg of'. irrigation.';. The- agricultural .' wealth of that country will begone .of;the;faots o fthe twentieth century.:'. At a/moder-. ate. calculation,; there .is -iS2so,ooo,ooovbf. money in that land.; And";.agricultural wealth differs from a goldmine -iu' : being inexhaustible." ',•: : .-:-"' ':";.-',.;-'^/V^'/■''.'■ "'•;