TROOPS ABROAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1922, Page 5

TROOPS ABROAD.

BRITAIN’S PROBLEMS. MESOPOTAMIA QUIET. PALESTINE DIFFICULTY, By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received March 10, 5.5 p.m. London, March 9. Mr. Winston Churchill, in the House of Commons, reviewing conditions in Mesopotamia, said he had been able to reduce the garrison from twenty-three battalions to nine, and he hoped eventually to four. This was possible owing to our air power, of which there were eight squadrons now in the country. The only considerable 'body of Imperial troops there is stationed near Mosul guarding against possible Turkish hostile movements.

Mr. Churchill added that thanks to new air machines the mail distance between London and Baghdad had been reduced from six weeks to a fortnight, and the distance has actually been covered in seven days. Mesopotamia had a peaceful year, thanks to the establishment of the independent Arab State under Feisul. Mr. Churchill emphasised the difficulty in Palestine and said because Britain was openly pledged to the Zionists the Arab majority in Palestine was unsympathetic to that movement. Nine thousand carefully selected Jewish ? ttlers had been admitted and introduced wealth and industry. The costs of administration will be reduced from £8,000,000 in the current year to £4,000,000 next year, and thereafter to £2,000,000.

Mr. Asquith predicted that trouble is inevitable with the Kurds, and possibly the Turks. He stressed that a real and lasting treaty with Turkey was necessary to- the security of Mesopotamia. He would never be a party to any policy which would result in the reestablishment of Turkish rule over the Christian population.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.