JAPANESE FLEET GUARDING SUEZ.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 10, 13 January 1916, Page 3

JAPANESE FLEET GUARDING SUEZ.

While America and other parts of the world have been speculating as to the Kaiser's threat to attack Egypt on a large scale, a startling admission has been made at Los Angeles, Southern California, by A. M. Papajian Bey, former Minister of Interior in Egypt, a visitor to the Pacific Coast resort. He stated that Japan had entered the European theatre of war with a powerful fleet surreptitiously sent to the Suez Canal. “Great Britain realises that she cannot lose the Canal, which is a vital! element in her life as a united Empire,’’ declared Papajian Bey. “For that reason the Canal has been remarkably fortified and a Japanese fleet is on hand ready for business. Every effort has been made to keep the news of the presence of Japanese battleships at the Canal from spreading, and I have -heard

nothing of the fact in the I nited States. They are there, nevertheless. Papajian Bey scoffed at the idea of r

German invasion of Egypt, and said Germany seemed to be at her wits’ end to know how to escape the iron ring of the Allies. “Only in January and February, the least hot months, is lit possible for a great array to cross the desert sands between Turkey and Egypt,” he asserted. “Then, too, the Red Sea forms a neutral barrier as efficacious as an army. Many ships and transports would be needed, and Germany could not procure them.” The anouncement that Japanese are in Europe has created a deep impression..