The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1920. DOUBTFUL METHODS.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 227, 22 September 1920, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1920. DOUBTFUL METHODS.

For the cause that Jacks tesistanem, For the wrong that needs rtsietanee. For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

"Since the administration is not appreciated by the Arabs it is certain that the British Government will cease pouring out millions of the taxpayers' money to maintain a system which is not welcome to those it is intended to benefit." So says one of the leading- English newspapers in Jndia, in the course of a statement about Mesopotamia. If the "Pioneer's" forecast may not agree with official views, it certainly expresses the conviction of a large, increasing, and authoritative body of opinion in England. Only those who keep in closo touch with the English Press know how strong and widespread ia the feeling that a huge blunder has been made in Mesopotamia. It finds expression in papers of all -hades of opinion, and comes not only from men to whom the oldfashioned term "Little Englandcr" might he applied, but from men who might be supposed to be of just the opposite faith. Distinguished soldiers, publicists, men who know the East, condemn the policy followed in Mesopotamia. It is not that the obligations of England there are denied; having conquered the country at so much sacrifice, and having _6t on foot great improvements' beyond the capacity of the indolent and incapable Turks, we could hardly walk right out of the country the moment victory> was achieved. It is the methods by which the British Government has sought to carry out its duty as mandatory for Mesopotamia and its pledge to set up an Arab State, that are severely, criticised.

(Put briefly, the charge is that we have interfered too much with the native population, that we have over-governed them, and by doing so have driven them to revolt. We have, it is alleged, imported a host of Anglo-Indian officials, and tried to govern the Arabs as 'British India is governed, increasing taxation enormously, and imposing checks on the Arab to which he is quite unaccustomed, and w-ich he fiercely resents. It was stated in the House of Commons that last year five millions was "extracted from thesl two million pastoral and roving people by administrators eager to turn the Garden of Eden into a new Paradise for Anglo-Indian officials."' The wording is that of the "Times," w-ieh goes on to say that it believes the accusation to be true that the real cause of the outbreaks was excessive taxation and mutual hostility between the Arabs and the Indian troops. Important contributions to the discussion 'have been mad.c by Colonel Lawrence, that brilliant young Englishman whose exploits among the Arabian Arabs during the war were a thrill'ng romance. Colonel Lawrence says that at the time of the Armistice British prestige in the Middle East stood higher than ever before, but to-day it has sadly declined. "The Arabs rebelled against the Turks during the war not because the Turkish Government was notably bad, but because they wanted independence. They did not risk their lives in battle to change masters, to become British subjects or French citizens, but to win a show of their own." He is not surprised that Arab patience in Mesopotamia has broken down after two years. The Government set up is English in fashion, and is conducted in the English language. There are 450 British executive officers, "and not a single responsible Mesopotamian," whereas in Turkish days 70 per cent, of the executive Civil Service was local. "Why," he a__s, "should Englishmen (or Indian.) have to be killed to ma'kc the Arab Government in Mesopotamia, which is the considered intention of His Majesty's, Government?" He would make the ATftbs do th. work, with apparently a few Englishmen as advisers, and leave the defence of the country entirely to Arab troops. There are, of course, other factors to be considered, such as the effect of Turkish and 'Bolshevik intrigue in Mesopotamia, and the necessity for maintaining Britain's' strategical interests in the Persian Gulf. But the policy outlined by Colonel Lawrence, or a modification of it, is the one that the Government will be forced to adopt sooner or later for the greater part of Mesopotamia. If no one else compels it to do so, the British taxpayer will. A short while ago the occupation was costing him thirty-lfive millions a year, and by. this time the bill , may have run up to fifty.