AUTHOR-ENGINEER

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1938, Page 10

AUTHOR-ENGINEER

KURDISTAN EXPLOIT

FIVE YEARS IN BUILDING

A VARIED LIFE

Captain A. M. Hamilton, 8.E.(N.Z.), A.M.1.C.E., A.M.1.M.E., who arrived in Wellington yesterday on his way bank to England after spending two months in the South Island, in an interesting interview, told something of the exoiting story of the building of the 120-mile long Rowanduz Road through the wild mountains of Kurdistan. He also commented upon the progress of engineering works in New Zealand since he left this country in 1926, and spoke of the success of other New Zealand engineers, whom he had met in the Near East. B.efore going out to Irak where the road' was built, Captain Hamilton •wprked for two years for the British Admiralty on the design of the Singa-

pore Naval Base, and after his return

to England four years later he de- ' yeloped new ideas in bridge and aeroplane hangar design for the War Office and Air Ministry, and has subsequently held a temporary commission in the Royal Engineers, with whom he has been serving in Egypt and Palestine. Captain Hamilton stated that his book, "Road Through Kurdistan," •which is being widely read both in New Zealand and the .Old Country, was written largely at the suggestion

of the Kurds themselves, which says

much for the writer's character and , .wide sympathies: Appreciation, of his ' abilities is shown also in the words of Sir Percy Sykes, who, speaking as the chairman of a gathering of the Royal Central Asian Society in London, referred to the building of this road as one of the greatest feats of engineering construction, and said that the builder had shown genius in this and' in the management, of v the men of many races who worked upon it. ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENT. The roads runs from Northern Irak to Persia. It took five years to build, for it passes through a wild and broken country, penetrating the Zagros Range, which rises to 12,000ft, the highest pass on;the road being 6000ft. Th« climate was blazing hot in summer-and intensely cold in winter.

Captain Hamilton, on assuming charge at the work, was confronted by the difficulty of learning to use at least six .languages, with none of

which he was acquainted, Arabic, Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Armenian, and . Assyrian, and, as there was an Indian supervisor, Hindustani was

added, with. Russian .and French oc-

casionally. spoken. "After a while," i said Captain Hamilton, "I managed to

speak Kurdish and Arabic at least well -enough to get the work done." the strength of the working force varied | from time to time, but often reached ■as many as 1000 'men. Yet with this number of men under him Captain" "Hamilton had .no labour troubles at all, though often risings and rebellions against the Government broke out in adjacent districts. At first the local Kurds were inclined to be suspicious of the road, but as it grew they realised what it would mean to them, and were very helpful. Though there were no tunnels, the road in the gorges had frequently to be half-tunnelled, the overhang 'resembling the well-known Hawk Crag 'in the Buller Gorge. The" job was of interest 'by reason of the introduction into these remote lands of modern " ;rock-driliing apparatus, steam rollers, stone crushers, and;so on, all worked by natives who had to be trained in their use. They were, naturally slow at first, but became remarkably dependableun time. The road was finished to a good standard of modern construction, the minimum width being 18ft, and the curves and zig-zags up the passes well formed.

N.Z. IRRIGATION POSSIBILITIES. ■ During the two months he! has been visiting New Zealand, Captain Hamilton has been greatly impressed by the developments' which are. taking place, .particularly in public works. He finds irrigation one of the most interesting. In a country; like New-Zealand with a rather unreliable rainfall irrigation would in'the course'of a few years greatly increase, the productive capacity and wealth of the country. It is well known that in Egypt, Irak, and

parts of India the very existence of

the people depends upon irrigation. " Crude as the methods often are, the resulting fertility ;of the soil is sur- . prising. In the parts of those countries where modern, large-scale irrigation has been introduced the cropping ■ and grazing capacity of the land has been increased in .an astounding way. In such: schemes three servicesi are generally given to the cultivator. First the land is irrigated with silt-laden ■ river water, then the silt is allowed time to settle oui upon the land, and finally the excess water is carefully drained away so that the land shall not become marshy or salty. These three services would have to be cpnsidered in relation to, the requirements of the land, and the irrigation and drainage possibilities in different parts of New Zealand, and also "to the con-

flguration of each individual farm.

- Pleased to note the introduction-in "-..New Zealand .of modern labour-sav-ing machinery for earth and rock excavation, Captain Hamilton said that even in comparatively backward coun-

tries like Irak and Palestine, the major

public works are being performed today with just such modern types of 'power graders, earth elevators, tractors, and scrapers, as have recently been introduced into New Zealand. At present the choice is restricted to ma- . chines of American manufacture as there are ad English machines of the equivalent type yet made.

NEW ZEALAND ENGINEERS IN NEAR EAST. ;

---\ Of the jobs in progress in Irak tc- . 'day the? most, important, said Captain "Hamilton, was the extension of the ;■. Irak .railway system up the Tigris to - connect with the Turkish and Euro- ;, pean railway systems. There were also various road and irrigation deyelop- ;' ments proceeding in other parts of Irak, and a new bridge over the Tigris - at Bagdad was under construction. He - thought that the Irak Government was ■ genuinely gratified by the work which British engineers had carried ;-. out in their country, and though the mandate had! ceased some years ago, 7 quite a number of British engineers ■ were still employed there. * It was interesting that two young -'■ engineers, formerly on the staff of the ~.-. Wellington City Council, were now in the Near East Mr. F. R. O'Connor was municipal engineer at Jaffa in Palestine, and Mr. I. L. Ward was „ attached to the Irak Irrigation Department. Of other New Zealanders, the well-known Nairn brothers, Gerald and Norman, were still making improvements in their famous Damascus- ". Bagdad desert transport service, ••: which has meant so much to the countries served. Their latest vehicles ■were air-conditioned sleeping cars drawn.by 200 h.p. Diesell units, prob- :> ably:the only motor equipment of its ■ kind in the world. The Irak Petroleum ■;■ Company1 today also runs a transport service for its employees maintaining the oil pipe line from .Irak to the Medi-

terraneah, but smaller vehicles are used.-

In the course of his service with the Royal Engineers in Egypt, Captain Hamilton was serving for a time under Colonel Bingay, well known during the war to the New Zealand Engineers, to which corps he was attached. He told Captain Hamilton that tie had a high opinion of the work of the New Zealand Engineers in the fielc, and considered the construction of the bridge over the St. Quentin Canal in record time one of their finest achievements.

NOVEL TYPE OF ROAD BRIDGE.

In connection with military bridges Captain Hamilton has, from experience in Irak, and in conjunction with Mr. G. D. White-Parsons, formerly of Lyttelton, developed a new type of road bridge composed of standard parts and capable of quick erection in any situation, superseding the older official types. Following on this a t very light and quickly-erected type of aeroplane hangar had been, designed by these two New Zealand engineers on the same general lines, several having already been put into use by the British Air Ministry. _ "I am very pleased," concluded Captain Hamilton, "to note the development of air travel in this country. In the Old Country it is quite a common thing for firms to have' members of their staffs who can fly. machines as part'of their work if much travelling is entailed. Roads in New Zealand have been greatly improved,, and, of course, the development of hydro-, electricity has been most noteworthy. Even yet electric power is not cheap enough throughout the country, but this should soon be overcome. As a visiting engineer it.is extremely gratifying for me to note the vigorous policy- for improvement of communications, and development of all the natural resources of the country, in my opinion the standard of engineering in New Zealand is as high as can be found anywhere in the world."