MECCA ENCIRCLED.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 15 October 1924, Page 5

MECCA ENCIRCLED.

WAHABIS ADVANCE. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT LONDON, Oct. 13. The Cairo correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says Emir Ali’s attempts to make peace with the Wahabis encircling Mecca have been contemptuously rejected. Four messengers are prisoners. One who escaped reports that Ali’s letter was torn up. The Daily Chronicle’s correspondent at Jeddah (Mr George Renwick) says that several thousand inhabitants, who left Mecca before the Wahabis encircled the city, are now approaching Jeddah, which is already seriously overcrowded. Food and water are quickly becoming scarce. The situation at Mecca is reported to be appalling. Wild Bedouins plundered tlie Royal palace on Sunday night and committed other excesses. Uneasiness has been caused by the report that seven hundred so-called volunteers from trans-Jordoni have embarked at Akaba on route to Jeddah in order to fight the Wahabis at the instance of ex-King Hussein. Actually they are well armed ruffians, who, if they reach Jeddah, will almost certainly indulge in bloodshed and destruction. CAIRO, Oct. 13. It is reported that the Wahabis refuse to negotiate and they intend to advance on Mecca. Emir Ali and all the members of his Government have withdrawn to Baliri.