THE MULLAH.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 736, 8 April 1910, Page 7

THE MULLAH.

TOO COSTLY TO PROTECT HIS VICTIMS. MILLIONS LOST IN TRYING TO CATCH HIM. By TelcEraph-Press Association—OopyrUlil (Bee. April 7, 0.30 p.m.). London, April 7. In the Houso of Lords, Lord Curzon initiated a debate on the position of affairs in Somaliland, where the British advanced posts have been withdrawn, and the Mullah is raiding, robbing, and slaying friendly tribes. Lord Curzon accused the Government of destroying the work of twenty-five years. The Government, ho declared, had blackened Britain's namo by deserting the friondlies. , Lord Crewe, Secretary for the Colonies, replied that Britain spent £100,000 last year without protecting the tribes. Evacuation was the only alternative to an expeditionary force for the purpose of capturing the Mullah. Similar efforts in 1901 and 1904 cost between two and threo million sterling. Tho Unionist Leader, Lord Lansdowno (who was Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the'Balfour Government),'declared that Britain went to Somaliland because it was impossible to allow foreign Powers to annex the coast in front of Aden. The policy of coast concentration was rejected in ,1904 because of the ill effects it would have upon Britain's position in Abyssinia and in the Sudan. - .