MESOPOTAMIA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 160, 4 July 1918, Page 5

MESOPOTAMIA.

a new zea(lan3>er.'(s desgripttion. Though British troops have been fighting in Mesopotamia for years, and New Zealand itself lias a wireless unit in that region, few people in this Dominion have any clear idea of the nature of the country. A New Zealander, who has been an. officer with the Imperial Forces in that distant war zone for two years, yesterday gave a Post reporter his impressions of the place, which impressions .-will be found to correct many widely-held anc? erroneous notions. Mesopotamia, the officer said, was a land of boundless possibilities. . Prior to the war it supported seven million Arabs, who farmed the river banks and carried on operations in a primitive haphazard way. .Even under these methods great quantities of wheat were grown, besides dates, grapes, oranges, limes, and all kinds of fruit.- All that was needed was water, and irrigation had recently received greater attention. Many centuries ago, when Mesopotamia was one vast flowering land, there was a. perfect system of irrigation —the work of the Chaldeans and other near-for-gotten races. When the Mangols overran the country the system was destroyed, never to be rebuilt, but traces of it were yet to be seen in all parte, and maitv of the old canals and watercourses formed the pari of n. new system. For example,the River Hai. from Kut-el-Amara to Nazarea,, was a big canal joining the Tigris and The Arab cultivators still made use of thf relics of the old irrigation works, with their antiquated adjuncts of leathei buckets, dipping water out of the river: but gradually new methods were .beinp introduced. ' On the Euphrates a great improvement had been effected' byWillcox's irrigation scheme, which had been in process of development for more than. 15 years, and included the great Hindiva barrage. . The' occupving troops were assisting nthis work of altering the appearance of "Tie count rv. There had not been a great rleal of fichting lately—th« armies wer' holding tliein- gains, practically the whole of the Mesopotamian plains—a«d al . most every officer was a farmer for the time being. Each company cultivate' a certain area in potatoes and other vegetables. As mentioned in a. recent cablegram, the troops are practically .self-supporting; very litt'.e food has tr be imported. The countrv will yielc' two wheat crops a year—all that is re quired is water. Nor is Nature's yield restricted to ■ "(retable life. (Mesopotamia is a great .. f >eld for sportsmen, with all kinds _ o' fowl, including geese, sand-grouse, im perial grouse, snipe, all sorts of dueland teal, and thousands of black partridge. A bag oi 57 brace- of blacV parti'idge; was secured by, the; guns in one morning, and big shooting record? ire nuite the usual thing, r ■ The birds breed in Siberia, and. come to ■lamia in the cooler months of the yeai\ p ig-sticking is-also a sport for which or portunities are many. / The rivers are well "stocked with fish, which the'troops secured by the use of bombs. One variety, known as the Tigris -salmon, i? very fine eating, and grows to a great size.

Of the operations of the -armies am' the fighting prospects the officer could not speak—except to say that there was now a- wonderful system of communicpMons by rail and river. Basra was a ■busv port, very different from the time ' '■■■■"'• British troops first; arrived.- Thr '•"-v-tlth of the troops was excellent, in ni<e of the climate and the dangers of various tropical maladies. In the winVv the weather was cool and perfect!•Enjoyable, and if the days in the summer' were excessively hot, the nights. •■ least, were cool. Sports of all > ; wove organised bv both officers and niw -hen the weather was at all suitable There was a great deal of polo player). ,and in cosmopolitan Baghdad tlierc_wa,= .ven a sports club, run" by the Bntist\Tmy. -' In his brief reference to the troop:*he officer mentioned specially. ••md the spirit of the Indian !Natt>r units composed of thoroughly loyal men .vhow behaviour in trying campaign? •had been splendid throughout.