A NEW WAR CLOUD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1243, 27 September 1911, Page 5

A NEW WAR CLOUD.

4 WILL ITALY FIGHT TURKEY ? COVETOUS EYES ON TRIPOLI. SINISTER ACTIVITY. By Telegraph—Press Aesoeiation—Copyright Paris, September 25. .According to the newspaper "Lo Matin," Turkey, after refusing to lease Tripoli to Italy, announced that if Kalian worships wefo sent there sho would expel 50,000 Italians who rosido in tho Turkish Enipiro, and boycott Italian trade. In that event Italy would declare, war. TURKEY APPEALS TO THE POWERS, ITALIAN WARSHIPS MOVING. (Eec. Septembor 27, 0.50 a.m.) Constantinople, September 26. Tho Porto has appealed for the* good offices of tho Powers to restraiu Italy from hostilities. Heuter's correspondent at Malta, reports that an Italian battleship and two cruisers havo passed in tho direction of Tripoli. .Eighty-seven Italians and Europeans havo arrived at Malta fron Tripoli, aud the exodus, especially ot tho wealthier families, continues. THE ARMY IN READINESS. • Rome, September 25. Italy seeks to lease Tripoli, and offers to maintain tho Turkifli suzerainty. In tho event of a refusal of tho offer, or on tho safety of the Italian residents being menaced, she will eend 60,000 troops to Tripoli. Tho Turkish garrison at Tripoli is estimated at 30,000 men. Tho Italian reservists of 18S8 number 90,000. ....... CAUSE OF THE QUARREL. London, September 25. The "Morning Post's" Berlin correspondent states that tho Turco-Itolian quarrel is tho result of tho Agadir incident, and is calculated to neutraliso tho advantages Germany expected from her careful nursing of Young Turkey and also from tho reconciliation of tho Turks with AustriaHungary, and the encouragement of Turkish and Austrian naval ambitions. Pouter's Malta correspondent states that tho British third-class cruiser Medea has been ordered eastward under sealed orders.

A GROUNDLESS RUMOUR. (Rec. September 27, 0.50 a.in.) Rome, September 26. A strict censorship of military news is king , enforced. It transpires that the battleship Reginn Margherita left Latakia on Sunday for Alexandria, and has now safely arrived. A previous messigo stated that it was rumoured that tho Italian "liner" Regina Margherita had b«-n seized by the Turks. THE FUTURE OF TRIPOLI. SOME ITALIAN, VIEWS. Nominally Tripoli is Turkish territory, but, as an Italia'n writer remarked some time ago, the decision of the great Powers in' ISUO. to recognise the rights of the Sultan has not proved able to withstand the revelation of the value of the land. Little by little Franco and England have "acquired" larger and larger tracts of socalled Turkish territory, until now all tho hinterland of Tripoli, which should havo gone with it, ,has been absorbed or is in process of absorption by ouo or tho other of tliesq Powers. Vittorio Nazari, in a vigorously-written article in the "Nuova Autologia (Rome) iu' 1008 called upon Italy to rouse herself and take action in securing her share before it is too latp. Already, owing to the encroachments abovo mentioned, Tripoli has lost a great share of her commercial possibilities.

"The British campaign has been most thorough. From the mouth of the River Niger they have established an excellent service of steamships, which carry freight direct to European ports. Up the river as far as Lakoja they havo a swift service of river boats, which bring the freight down to tho seacoast, and now they have projected a network of railway linos which will connect Lakoja with all tho sultanates of' the centre. ' This means simply that tho largo and very important caravan trade from tho Sahara and the trade with the , populous regions of the Sudan, which for centurios have found thoir way to the sea through Tripoli, havo been diverted from this natural route, leaving Tripoli with nothing but its agricultural possibilities." It is too late to provent this loss, but faignor iNazari urged Italian authorities ro hasten and save what is,left. Tripoli, although now so neglected among tho nourishing colonies of North Ainca as to bo called the Cinderella of the region possesses many advantage which peculiarly fit it for being the scene of a great colonial campaign by Italy. In the first place, it is no uncertain venture. Its history shows that all it needs is intelligent cultivation to make it of great value agriculturally. • ■ "In tho time of the Roman Empire"! says one Italian writer, "it was famous for its fertility, especially tho region now known as Barca. Prodigious quantities of olives were raised here in Roman time* as well as grains of all kinds and fruits famous for their abundance and excellence. The fertile soil and favourable climate havo neither of < them changed since those days, but centuries of the wretched and corrupt rule of Turkey with its system of absentee and irresponsible officials, havo reduced tho people to tho state of dull and despairing apathy in which Egypt was bdoro England took hold of it. Iho present flourishing condition of that country, and of Algeria which was rescued by tho French from' similar misrule, shows what lies before inpoli under a wise and just European administration. Another favourable factor is that there is no war of conquest against the 'native inhabitants needed as in tho ill-fated Abyssinian campaign. Tho population which is very sparsely scattered over tho country, there being on an average only ono inhabitant to a square mile, would welcome eagcrlv a chanirn masters"' 1 ' Cn ' Cl rapaci ° us Turkish

Signor Nazari warns his people however, thai a wav is needed which is some imos more difficult /or a modern Zd bureaucratic nation to conduct than a war of conquest, and that is a campaign of strict economic wisdom and hoiiesfifree from red tape, bold, full of initiatho' honest and persistent. Great engineering undertakings are needed to regulate hf water supply, and in letting these Yon tracts there must be the greatest cLoTo avoid, tho disastrous corruption so ill rant m the French attempt' in Panama