The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1916. SUEZ CANAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 26, 6 January 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1916. SUEZ CANAL.

Very shortly now there should be a surplus of Allied troops ill Egypt available for operations on .other near-by fronts. There is much talk of further Turkish action against the Suez Canal, and it is necessary therefore to strongly re-inforce the garrison now there. Special interest here attaches to this quarter, as a great many New Zealanders are massed in Egypt. Some authorities consider that an advance of the enemy in force is almost certain this month or, at latest, early in February. Great activity of enemy submarines in the Mediterranean has been shown of late, and some steamer lines have abandoned the Suez route. The distance between the most northerly part of the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean is about seventytwo miles. It is generally a sandy desert with a slight elevation, some small lakes and salt marshes. Since 1869 the Suez Canal has been the great maritime highway between Europe and the East, and it is of vital importance to the Entente. There does not seem any reasonable chance of the enemy gaining any footing in the locality, but it is certainly necessary to take the fullest precautions against attack. The Germans would, of course, do anything to create a diversion and to impress neutrals by some spectacular effort. Fighting in the Canal zone may therefore be expected, though the danger ought not to last long. Turkish preparations for an attack are hardly likely to have been so elaborate as some reports suggest.