English Engineering in Egypt.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3365, 20 November 1889, Page 2

English Engineering in Egypt.

11 The first problem to be dealt with ■ in Egyptian hydraulics is [lie mini- > nisin:; of the ill-effects of a specially I low Nile, If there was no low Nile, ■ and tbe river could be kept through out tlio year at approximately tlin , level of high Nile, the Delta and tbe • hollow lands of Upper Egypt might be a garden in perpetual bloom, in , which crop would follow crop in i magical succession. Napoleon with ; bis singular power of grasping in a ■ moment the' key to every physical ■ problem lie approacked-the line frenzy of truu genius—once declared that, were Ito the master of Egypt, not an ounce of the rich sliuiu° and mud that now flows out into the sea should be wastod. How to keep up the level of the Nile is, then, tlio great question proposed for solution. Anyone who has ever seen the svsteni by which the naturally narrow and shallow Thames is converted throughout its course into a chain of long thin lakes would at once reply" "Euild a weir on the Nile, and bay back as much of the water as is required, 1 ' Undoubtedly this answer is tbe porrect one; but to curry out the scheme in practice is anything but simple. It was attempted by the French engineers of Mebemet Ali, and more than a quarter of century in j time and many millions in money were wasted in the attempt to dam the Nile ; waters at the point where the stream ' separatesiiitotiießosettaandDaimi'tta | branches. The Barrage, one of the ] most graceful and beautiful engineer- | ing works ever constructed, even by , French engineers, stood from ][B6B, | when the attempt to render it efficient j was ultimately abandoned, till ISBS, , as a mouument of man's failure to < control the Nile flood. Its far-stretoli- , ing series of gates, arches, aud battle- | rnented and fortified towers over a | thousand yards in leugih, and its | platform 3,oft above the level of Ike | sea, made au imposing show, but for | all other purposes it was practically | useless. Its foundations had buen ( hastily -afld carelessly laid, and the | whole fabric thus showed signs of \ was only able to support i

' l'lU."uwwiv_) jgj i the totally inadequate amount of sointfw > three or four feet of water, Wliero the French engineers have failed the 1 English, however, were successful, i One of the first things determined i upon by Colonel Moncrieff on taking over the management of the Irrigation . Department was that the Barrage . should bo wade to do its work.Though ' miablo, for lack of funds, to begin matters on a large scale, he steadily pursued the plan of strengthening and repairing, and year by year succeeded in supporting a higher and so in allowing the canals that flow through and feed the fields of the Delta, to be kept full for a longer period of time. Having shown that the task was feasible,and having saved Egypt from the usual disasters accompanying two specially low Niles, Colonel Moucriff offlßned a grant of £1,000,000 in order to enable him to put tbe Barrage in perfect working order, and to carry out other irrigation schemes of importance, In 1892 it is calculated that the Barrage will' be finished, and thai it then will support " a maximum level of water,with full canals for the bulk of they country." Already the blessings of a* regular and increased water-supply have been felt, and fresh water now goes to romote villages, which were forced to subsist on foul and brackish wells. In Egypt, to gain water means to gain lund. or rather, to make good land out of barren. Hence the first result of the raising of the minimum level of tho river has been to bring into cultivation a jmt stretch of country that was before perfectly worthless. In Lower Egypt reclamation has been.goiag on at the rateof 80,000 acres a year, while in the Behera Province the rate has been more like 100,000 acres, In fact, under English ruin Egypt is gradually spreading over the desert, Longforgotten channelshading to districts once properons, but now arid and barren, are constantly being cleaned out and made uso of, and everywhere tho fringe of green is advancing on tho wastes of sand, But if much has been done towards the physical development of Egypt, much more remains to be accomplished, If tho land were not burdened with debts incurred to gratify the vices andA follies of the Khedive, Egypt mighflv) ut once borrow £50,000,000, ancF enter upon works which would be certain to prove remunerative in tlio long run, A3 it is, she must wait, and do little by little what a richer State might attempt more boldly, The programme before her is a lajbu ono, though she can but slowly. To begin with, the Barrage must be completed, the level of the wator uiaiutaincd, and advantage taken of the extra supply by the cutting of canals and channels which will conduct the Hood wat6v to spots now barren. Next, an attempt must be made to drain tho inland lakes, and to refertilisetho soil by allowing repeated settlements of the Nile water. The lakes are often only a foot, seldom more than four feet deep, and therefore the task is comparatively easy. What tho result of successful reclamation might he, tuay begathered from tin; tact that the Menzaleh Lake alone contains an area of eight hundred square miles, Then there is formation, or rather reconstruction, of the reservoir in the depression of tho layuin, by means of which the work of pieventing »low Nile may be most materially assisted. If these are ever accomplished, we may well? claim to rank with the Pharaohs as the benefators of Egypt. But (gn if they are not, what we have alrcljy done will clear us from the charge of having neglected the interests of the population over whom we have extended our intiueuco.—Spectator.