FIGHTING IN TRIPOLI

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 100, 5 January 1912, Page 8

FIGHTING IN TRIPOLI

i . • ». , BRITONS IN TRIPOLI. * It used to be a tradition in Europe that "perfidious Albion" was at the bottom of every trouble and apparently the old habit of thought still persists. A circumstantial story is being told to show that British activities caused the outbreak of war between Italy and Turkey. It seems that a syndicate backed by British capital had' secured from Turkey a concession for the construction of harbor works at Tripoli, the development of the sponge industry and the opening of phosphate mines. The arrangements had been almost completed when information regarding what was proposed reached the ears of the Italian Government, which had long been looking at Tripoli with covetous eyes. "If London is interested the game must be worth the candle," said the statesmen at Rome, and promptly an ultimatum was sent to Constantinople and the fleet despatched to Tripoli. Mr. E. Ashmead-Bartlett, I who mentions this story in the "AcaIdemy," went to Tripoli at the outbreak of hostilities, and he is strongly of opinion that Europe ought to stop the "miserable little war." "Nobody wants this war," he writes, "and nobody has anything to gain by it. I(j is a blot and'a disgrace, while it lasts, on Europe and on international morals, and it is extremely dull from the war correspondent's point of view. We all want to eome home, as the process of watching nations corner sand in Northern Africa is now played out." He adds that the Italians have saddled themselves with an enormous undertaking, which will cost them an immense number of lives and an immense amount of trouble and expenditure without giving any adequate return. Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett shared (the experience of his colleagues in connection with the Italian censors. He found that he was treated in the most civil fashion by the Italian soldiers, from the general commanding downwards, but that his efforts to acquire and transmit 'news were hampered at every turn. The war correspondents would have preferred less politeness and more freedom.