THE PERSIAN OILFIELDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 February 1919, Page 9

THE PERSIAN OILFIELDS.

* PROTECTION DURING W4R NECESSITY FOR MESOPOTAMIA EXPEDITION. It it not vevy generally understood that the military operations in Mesopotamia '.vere really initiated. in order fc:> protect the Persian oil. fields frotfftjjitller filling into the bauds of the Wicmy, or being destroyed by himA The Company operating these fields ity of course, largely controlled by the British ment, and it is not surprising, therefore, that early in the war an atteihpt was made to place them out of commission. To rightly, appreciate the significance of the operations in this theatre of war it is almost necessary, and certainly very interesting, to go back to the days when the- eyes of the western European nation first began to turn towards the east.

It will be remembered that in con' nection with his activities relation to the Bulgarian atrocities, the late TCisht Hon. W E. Gladstone estranged the Turks, and the British alliance with them was replaced t>v a Turco-German alliance. As Soon as this pact Was entered into the Germans at nee sent their special emissaries to the capital ef the Ottoman Empire. Von <ler Goltz was the military representative, and Tlerr von Bieberstein looked after civil and political matters. These two re-' presentatives —no dotibt un^V 1 * & < charge from their Government—created"! the idea of an Eastern German Empire, stretching from Austria, through the Balkan States, Turkey and Asia Minor, Arabia and Persia, and incidentally threatening Esrypt and India. With this distinct object before them Von der' Goltz associated hjnself with the work of reorganising the Turkish Army, of which he subseque'nttagained the victual control, and von BieWerstein ffave his attention to railway developments. In the meantime German and Austrian .intrigue had gained the Central Empires an ascendancy in the Tlalkan States. 9 Von Bieberstein was successful in" securing three important railway concessions in Asiatic Turkey, which, if they had been completed, would hav6 placed the Turco-German forces in a much more advantageous position in the military operations which subsequently became necessary in that theatTo eff war. The first concession was for the construction of a railway from Senteri (iinmediat'elv opposite Constantinople, on the Asiatic side of the 'Bosphdrus)_ to Angora. This section was complete'd, and a number of German colonies were established alonpr the •route- Tlie'next confession permitted connection between Angora and Konia. This line was also laid down, and colonisation carried out along the route. The third concession contemplated connection with Bagdad, and also included a gtant. under which the Germans were permitted to establish a hold on the porfr'Jfcf Alexandretta and to obtain a substantial portioii ot the port of Adana. Both these seaports are in northern Syria, and have outlpt iately to the Mediterranean. Von Bles herst-ein suhseqifftitly obtained a cession for a raHwa/to connect Bagdad)! with the hut the sehiMje wa , blocked by the British Government, who acquired territorv on the gulf frArti the Native Shieks. This took ulace at about the same time as the well-remem-bered Agadir incident. Amongst, the chief instigators of these Derm an schemes were members of the, Sicman family and their entourage, who created the Detttehe hank. The Siemans came into the conspiracy principally on account of the depletion of the Caspian oil fields, a.s tlieir attention was then directed towards Mesopotamia, and Persia. While all these commercial concessions were being engineered in the Turkish Empire, political events were movln» in Austria. The annexation by the Dual Monarchy o' Bosnia and Herzegovina set Russian intrigue to work, and arms and' money were provided the Balkan States. The opposing intrigues of the Russian and German Courts brought about the first Balkan War.. The result, of course, though expected to be favorable to the German schemes for afi Eastern was a disappointment to Powers, and this disappointment naturally affected the'peace terms. Further intrigue on the part of Austria provoked the /sedond Balkan War. which wr.s hardly less disappointing to them in its results. From this onwards Austria continued a niggling and exasperating attitude towards Serbia. which finally resulted in the assassination of the Archduke Joseph and his wife, lieirs to the Austtian throne, in the middle of the year 1!>14. The Archduke was hand-in-glove with the Kaiser in' his ambitions f,or his eastern German Ertipire The events subsequent to the assassination arei'too fresh in«the minds of all to require reiteration, Suffic& it to say that the swiftness with which they moved, and the clash of arms which deluged Europe in a welter ef Mood for over four years, were totally unexpected by any of the other powers, save those who shaped the course which those events were intended to take.

The acquisition •! lands'in Persia the British Government, and also of a controlling interest in the Anglo-Per-sian Oil Company naturally 1 defeated some of "the German plana in the East, and helpfid/fo preven£*the establishment of their pastern empire. It WiM not that when Turkey threw in hor lot, with tho Central Powcvh one of her first acta of war was to cut

tlu* pipe line, bv which the. oil from the Persian wells was fed down through the -mit'ncrp portion to il'o Persian Gulf, and to establish a force in tliat locality. The necessity for the preservation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Compa.nv'3 interests and the protection of the wells led to the Indian Gov'ern MKMit despatching one division of",lndifin troops to Afe3opotftmia,^wliere*,thcv 'niisht the battles of Basra and Sliltm, } 'id succeeded in securing the lino which I -he Turks menaced. It soon became

<M'i-lent, however, that a single division not he sufficient for tho task, and

reinforcements were cent, and gradually Hie expedition developed, and after varv- ; nr» fortunes in its earlier stages, became eminently successful. Throughout, the whole campaign the Anglo-Persian Oil "mnwir. with their lriflim connections. ".lunlpil iirtnortnnt work, mid tiie compartV was on several occasions mentioned ' ill de'natciics