MESOPOTAMIA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 141, 4 February 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

MESOPOTAMIA.

A STRANGE BRITISH FLEET. Sir Mark Sykes, M.P., has given some interesting details of his v.sit to the Indian Expeditionary Force in Mesopotamia. He gives a picturesque account of metal and machinery which is at present flying the white cns'gn on the Tigris. There are paddle-steamers which once plied with passengers, hut now waddle along with a barge on either side, one perhaps containing a portable wireless station and the other bullocks for heavy guns ashore. There are once respectable tugs which stagger along under a we ght of boiler platingj and are armed with guns of varying calibre; there is a launch which pants indignantly between batteries of 4.7'5, looking like a sardine between two cigarette boxes. There is a steamer with a Christmastree growing amidships, in the branches of wli'ch its officers fondly imagine they are invisible to friend or foe. AEROPLANE BECOMES A HOSPITAL SHIP. There is also a ship which is said to have started life as an aeroplane in Singapore, shed its wings, but kept its aerial propeller, took to water, and became a hospital: its progress is attended by a sustained series of detonations. wh ch serve it as an escort among the Aralw, who attribute its method of progress to Eblis alone. And this fleet is the cavalry screen, advance guard, rear guard, flank guard, railway, general headquarters, heavy artillery, line of communication, supply depot, police force, field ambulance. aerial hanger, and base of supply of the Mesopotamian Expedition. TREACHERY OF THE TRIBESMEN. Inland the tribesmen roam in anarchy under their German leaders; on the shore peaceful commerce is protected from their onslaught by these little bands of exles. These small detachments remain at their posts as weeks run into months, months into quarters, and the quarters circle the year. As for the people to be found there, Sir Mark says that Turkish corruption, smugglers, and a year's war have brought a wealth of arms and ammunitions: without any colics on or policy they are neither for British nor Turk; on the day of battle they haunt the outskirts of the tight, plunder the wounded and stragglers impartially, harass the retreat of the defeated side. bo : st white Hags over their tents, and make professions of unswerving fidelity to whosoever .seems to be in the ascendant.