ITALIANS DEFEATED.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 23, 26 January 1912, Page 5

ITALIANS DEFEATED.

IN OUTSKIRTS OF TRIPOLI. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) TUNIS, January 25. Advices from Tripoli state that three I battalions of Italian infantry and a small body of cavalry were heavily defeated while endeavouring to recapture i Sensur, westward of Tripoli. The Arabs pursued them to the out- ! skirts of Tripoli, expelling the Italians from their entrenchments, where GO Italian corpses were found. | A SUGGESTED EXCHANGE. I VIENNA. January 25. The newspaper "Reichspost" suggestß I that Italy offer Turkey the bulk of her (Italy's'! East African possesions in >sxchange for Tripoli and Oyrenaica. Such an an exchange would enable Turkey to conclude an honourable peace. i The Turkish Consul at Sydney (Mr. I R. Mockbellj last week received a nam-1 ber of private letters and newspapers | from Tripoli and Constantinople, which throws a good deal of light on the conduct of the Turko-Italian war, and which give an unqualified denial to all the allegations of Turkish barbarity, go j to show, also, that, so far as Australia is concerned, the majority of the cables I that have come through from Rome arc as one-sided as it w juld be possible for i them to be. "As far as I can see, said Mr. Mockbell, "the war has de- ■ veloped into guerilla fighting right along i the northern part of Tripoli, and the j advantage lies with our people to a great i extent. About ten miles back from the seaboard the Italians hold a strip of i country which is absolutely of no use to | them. They can get no farther, it ! would be ignominy to go back, and all i they seem to 'be doing at present is i wasting ammunition, getting themselves . taken prisoners and sent back to Italy, i . ind capturing and maltreating hordes of! , fellaheen, whom they think are Arabs, ■ Dut who. in are the native scum , if the country 7 —what you might call the . larrikins of Tripoli. The Turkish zenerals have the utmost difficulty in keeping the Arabs back, but they have j found out that the best thing to do is . co play the waiting-game, and all the capers now say—and my friends tell rae I the same thing in their letters—that ] rmtside interferences would be resented ?ery, Tery strongly by the Turks. Leave us alone,' say the Turkish people. I We will drive the Italians into the sea :n our own way, and at our own time.' i rbousandß of the Italians have surreniered, and have been shipped bock to j ".heir own country, glad to get out of it ill. For weeks and weeks a eomparalively small force of 25.000 Arabs and t Purks have been simply playing with j « 127.000 trained Italian troops. The I t Italian artillery has been wastincr their j , khell on the desert air. In one engage- j ' nent the Turk.- captured a whole bat- ' T ;ery of Italian artillery. 600 rifles, and a ' - ot of ammunition: and. in another I - >attle, 700 rifles and much arnmuni- ' ion.