'REPORT on the Working of the Line of Communication AND ON THE Withdrawal of the British Military Mission IN EAST PERSIA, 1919-20. GENERAL STAFF INDIA. [‎29r] (64/168)

•were completed, otherwise with the exception of a few minor works, such as
additional latrines, incinerators and additions to petrol storage, no new building
work was done.
Maintenance of buildings.
Maintenance of buildings externally was a simple matter merely requiring
proper graded roof drainage and renewals of mud plaster. This necessitated
the careful w r atching of the buildings during the first rainfall and readjust
ment of slopes, etc.; afterwards mud plaster renewals were fairly heavy owing
to the rain, when it does come down, being almost in the nature of a cloud
burst, washing away a lot of plaster and in many cases carrying away the
spouts for throwing water clear of the buildings and then washing deep
channels in the walls; all through the w r et season a gang of masons and
coolies A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. was kept in each hutted camp to deal with this.
Internally, owing to the inferiority of the burnt bricks, and the local
line, all pucca floors required constant repair.
Indian cement was not obtainable in any quantity till well on in 1920,
and what was obtained before then was used on hospital floors such as operat
ing rooms and venereal wards and for w r ater supply purposes. Throughout
the cold w eather, as pucca bricks were available, the floors of men’s barracks
were made of bricks as ordered by the General Officer Commanding, 4th
(Quetta) Division, on his tour of inspection in December 1919, but this work
was not finished and was closed dow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. r n on intimation of withdrawal being
received.
Roads,
Orders bad been issued that a road capable of carrying light motor traffic
was to be constructed from Duzdap to Meshed, This w r as taken in hand and
a clear run was ready by 1st May 1919. This line was hastily chosen and
then required to he built up to stand the traffic. It had to be realigned in
many places owing to sand, moving sandhills or too steep gradients, and may
be said to have been finally ready in May 1920 This does not necessarily
mean w’ork was completed, as a road of this type made without rollers or
water, requires continual care and improving, but by May the alignment,
as far as could be seen, was correct in the main, though the gradient wanted
altering in many places. Koad diagram attached with Appendix I.
In Persia, owing to shortage of water and intense heat in parts of the
line during the summer months, the best time for road construction is the
winter. Hence, in the spring of 1920, a good deal of new construction had
been done, mainly owung to the necessary realignments.
The most important of these was the new alignment to avoid the
moving sandhills immediately to the north of Jumin and the sandy plain
north of this again. This bit was 20J miles long and was embanked, rough
soled, and gravelled. It was nearing completion when orders for withdrawal
came but was finished off as it was nearly ready. Work was started by
Pioneers, mixed wuth Persian labour, and finished off by small contracts when
the local inhabitants grasped what was required. Work was also started
North of Surkh Eud Bridge with a view to carrying on the realignment to
Maina but this w^as not very far advanced and was stopped when orders for
withdrawal were received.
The other works on the main road were realignments on the passes
between Turbat and Meshed to reduce the gradients to a minimum of 1 in
10. Those in hand were finished off but the project as a whole was not com-
pleted owing to the withdrawal.
Of the main road the following works were carried out. The road from
Turbat to Pui-Khaf was made passable for an occasional motor car. During
the winter the road from Sistan to Hysamia was embanked to prevent flooding
and the Sistan-Girdi-Hurmuk Eoad made passable for occasional cars
owin" to the Safedawa-Lab-i-Baring-Sistan road being but by the rising of the
Hamun.