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Taranaki Daily News, 11 August 1916, Page 4

SUEZ SAFE. In view of the new Turkish attack on the Suez Canal, which seems to have been effectually beaten back, it is of interest to turn back to the account that the correspondent? gave a few months ago of the preparations for the defence of the waterway. The position under attack, apparently exonds north and south of El Rinnan, which is an oasis quite close to Katia, thirty-three miles by caravan route from Kantara. on the canal. The waterway itself, of course, is not immediately threatened, for the British lines were long ago prepared fai out in the desert, and the, advanced posts were connected up with bases on the canal by light lines of railway. It was not implied that the main defensive positions were anything like thirty miles away, but presumably there are works covering the main routes, and in the absence of more definite news it is to be assumed that the Turks are attacking one of these advanced positions. After the Turkish attack early last year it was decided that future raids should be stopped before, they could reach the canal zone itself. "It Ist a fallacy that the desert situated immediately east of tho canal is a flat plain,'' wrote a correspondent of the Times in March. '-On the contrary, it undulates and has been torn by wind into numerous little gullies and ravines. Often the view extends only for a'few hundred yards in every direction, to be blocked' by the surrounding dunes. The difference in levels is no doubt small, but it affords ample scope for the concealment of men. It was to this formation of the desert tli.:'. the Turkish forces were able last year to creep up mid launch their boats in the carail. That they will do so again is into improbable." The correspondent went 0* to explain that the new lines had been pi\°pared beyond the dune area, where a flat snd open plain of plain yellow sand gave ni' excellent field of view. Here the main positions had been established, and further beyond the reach of the eye, advanced positions were being dug and fortied. A pipe line, a road, a line of light rails indicated the activity beyond. On die canal itself tile scene was extraordinarily busy. "Tliero is a spot where the banks of the canal present a scene of the greatest activity," wrote the correspondent. ''They literally swarm with human beings, climbing and descending, passing and repassing, like black ants upon the yellow sand. A giant ferry, sriiny and" groaning, is laden with camels and men. for the most part friendly uedouin, dusky in color and dress, and rendered more' dusky still by the background of yellow sand and blue water. A floating bridge, the pontoons ablaze with red paint, gives passage to a motley crowd, and blocks the canal—until it will swing open again—to hnlf-a-fiozen picturesque lateen rigged sailing boats, their decks almost level with the water. Like everything' else in this scene of the movement they are doing their share of the work and are heavily laden. _ The west bank is pouring in one continual stream men and laden animals over to the East, and in one continual stream thev return for fresh loads."