ENGLANDS GREATEST ENTERPRISE.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 53, 14 February 1902, Page 4

ENGLANDS GREATEST ENTERPRISE.

MAKING S LAKE 144 MILES LONG, tXASAVE EGYPT. . - , ... In spite; of* his multitudinous duties,: Mr Joseph Chamberlain finds time to take a< keen and active interest in the progress of- the irrigation works of the Nile*, whereby if. is-hoped; to .transformthousands of miles of Egyptian desert into smiling pasture land: 7 . 7 The vast undertaking—-unsurpassed in magnitude and difficulty, by: any similar -engineering feat of modern .times —is now in an advanced stage, and it is expected that the Colonial Secretary will shortly inspect newly arrived plans and photographs showing the progress made during the, past few' months. And the object of it ? 'Briefly,' the better irrigation of Middle and Upper Egypt. At .present- the.- cultivated soil consists of a belt of land on either side of the river extending as far as, and no father than, the line reached by the waters at High Nile.; The rest is arid, unproductive sand. Now, the Nile waters are peculiarly rich in a sediment invaluable, f >r agri- ' cultural purposes, and yet every yearenough Nile water- and soil to create several Egypts are allowed to run into the Mediterranean. It is to impound this water that a great wall of granite is being built on the southern side of the First Cataract at Assuan. The wall stretches from the right hn.uk of the Nile to the left, a distance of a mile and a quarter, and,, when completed, will rise 90ft. above, the level of the river at low water. The top of it will be as wide as Fleet Street, and will accommodate as much traffic. The wall is pierced by sluices. They number 180. The great steel doors with which they are provided will be worked by machinery, at once enormously powerful and yet so delicate that a child could let loose millions of gallons of this water which is to be Egypt’s salvation. At some periods of the year. 900,000 tons of water will rush through the sluices every minute. The dam will bottle up 1,000.000,000 tons of water ; but the effect of the wall will be apparent over 144 miles of, the river ; in other words, a lake 144 miles long will be formed- —a lake that would stretch from London to Nottingham,, and then leave enough water to make a secnod Windermere. , The cost of the scheme his been fixed at <£5,000,000 ; but the Egyptian Government will not be asked to pay a sixpence until the. work-has.been; completed. The settlement of this, little hill will extend over, a, period of. thirty years, so that Egypt is getting.her jcolossal dam on: the same system as, thrifty, housewives get their sewing machines, —the deferred payment system. It will prove a good bargain for Egypt, for it is calculated that England is virtually making the land of the ; Pharaohs a present of something like .£80,000,000. In addition to the greaf walLat; As.-. suan, a subsidary dam is-being, built at, Assiut. On the former-:. 12.000.;, men are employed, the-vast majo,rit.v natives. Thev receive between three and four; piastres a day, or about 5s a week, which is twice as.much as they , u-ually earn. On pay day the money is hr in bullion on camels across tl e desert from the Assuan bank, and it is an interesting sight to see the. patient-bear-, ers of the gold.kneel down while .their precious burden Is distributed, among the eager thousands;of-jabbering, happy^ toilers. 7;,.-, u.l ■:<> •

The stone for the great, walk is being obtained from . the, quarVies -oL which the Temples of- Phllae are bel eved- tohave been built—the : unhappy ,7Philae: which, wheivthte dam is eomqdqteiLwdh l>e submerged and partly disappear frorn

>!gi/i i_.il the first -time in ;its three ti.'-'u.-mhd years of existence. " The granite' blocks that'.' are being quarried for this, the first' great, eniie'eriug achievement of the twentieth

• century, bear the marks of wedges "used thirty ‘ceuturie's ago. --- - 1 -' ■ ‘ - It niay be—-nay, it'seChis almost inevitable, in such' -a- changeful country —that seine day we niay go the way that the Pharaohs ail'd 1 Persians;' •the'' Ptol mies a rid Ebmah s, "Weht' in' the' long ago ; but we shall leave behind us an enduring monument' to the entei/prise, th e wisdom, arid - the benefice nee of England’s occupation iii : Egypt !—The Gaily Marl.'"' 1 • : * ‘'; r ‘ ‘