ROAD BUILDING IN IRAK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 11

ROAD BUILDING IN IRAK

LINK WITH NORTH PERSIA WORKMEN FROM MANY RACES Recently engagod in road construetion in Irak and Persia, Mr. A. M. Hamilton returned on leave to New Zealand yesterday on the Ruahine; Formerly of Christchurch, Mr. Hamilton served with the Lyt-telton Harbour Board and afterwards with the Admiralty in London. From there he went to the East, whgro he has spent the past four and a-half years. , During the past six years a fine metalled and tar-tealed road has been pushed through the rocky hinterland of Northern Irak from Mosul to Teheran, the capital of Persia. This new highway will facilitate the hitherto arduous task of getting ,jn heavy machinery to the oil wells in that district and will also serve to open up a valuable trade route between the two countries. The men employed on the construction work were drawn from the tribes along tho route and consisted of Kurds, Persians, Arabs, Armenians and Assyrians. The latest mechanical road-making gear was employed. Pnoumatie drills were used to push through a highway that followed in places; routes with historical associations . dating back thousands of years. The result was a modern highway 20ft. in width that will eventually form a connecting link with the Bagdad railway at Mosul. Tho overseers on the work were mostly Assyrians, and the police protection necessary for such a task was provided by the levy battalions, most of whom were originally Assyrian. The efficiency of this protection accounted for tho fact that each month £150,000 were taken in for running expenses without a single case of theft. Wheoi the Irak Government reverted from a British mandate to local autonomy tho Assyrian levies were disbanded, aud, finding themselves out of employment, they inevitably caused friction with the Arab levies that replaced them. This was the beginning of the recent trouble in Irak. Another great engineering enterprise mentioned by Mr. Hamilton was the Irak-Haifa oil pipe line, which will be in full working order some time in 1930. This had been carried out at high speed and should do much to assist the Palestine Government, from whose chief pott tho tankers wils jrork,