The Auchland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1926. BRITAIN IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 134, 8 June 1926, Page 6

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

TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1926. BRITAIN IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that toe can do.

The dispute between Britain and Turkey over the northern boundary of Iraq has been settled, so far as settlement is possible with a government which assumes the right to break faith with "the infidel" whenever it becomes convenient to do so. By tho simple expedient of assigning to Turkey a definite share of the profits from all the oil found in Iraq, Britain has induced Mustapha Kemal to withdraw his claim to Mosul, and to accept as frontier the Brussels Line, which leaves most of the disputed territory under British protection. So long as due provision has been made for the defence of the border tribes against Turkish raids and massacres, this arrangement eeems to be almost all that could be desired. No doubt much of the credit for this peaceful adjustment of what seemed likely to develop into a very dangerous controversy is due to the League of Nations. The question of the Iraq frontier fame before the Council of the League last December, and the Turkish Government had declared its intention of resisting to the last any attempt on the part of Britain to exercise authority on behalf of the King of Iraq over the disputed territory. A few days before, Mustapha Kemal had even gone so far as to arrange with the Soviet Government a "mutual guarantee" treaty which wag interpreted to mean that if Britain insisted on withholding Mosul, the Turks, aided by the Russians, wpuld attempt to seize it by force. But at a critical moment in the discussion the report of General Leidonner on Turkish atrocities on the frontier was laid before the Council, and the world-wide outburst of indignation that followed seems to have overawed the Turkish Government completely.

The Turks have long memories, and no doubt Mustapha Kcmal and his colleagues will cherish their resentment for years to come, and will watch for an opportunity for revenge. But for the time being the settlement now reached has certainly cleared up the situation in the Middle East, with very great advantage to Britain. Not the least of Britain's difficulties in this part of the world was the necessity imposed upon her of maintaining a considerable force in Iraq, and spending large sums there year by year to ensure the safety of the new kingdom. But if the "Daily Chronicle's" interpretation of the factg is correct, Britain will nov* be able to withdraw from Iraq within two years' time, and this will not only deprive the opponents of the British Government of a dangerous political weapon, but will leave the Imperial authorities free to deal more effectively with other dangers that have already arisen in the Middle East.

Undoubtedly the settlement of the Iraq boundary dispute will go far to re-establish British prestige in that part of the world; and an important contributory cause, working in the same direction, is the resolute policy which Britain hag adopted to meet the crisis that has recently developed in Egypt. The overwhelming victory of the Wafd, or Nationalist party, at the recent elections would, under ordinary circumstances, have meant the return of Zaghlul Pasha to power. But Britain simply refused to allow him to take office, and the new Premier, Adly Pasha though he professes to share Zaghlul's views on all important questions, is a much milder and less dangerous man. But the mere fact that Britain, rather than tolerate further seditious agitation in Egypt, has taken the decisive step of

vetoing Zaghlul's restoration, has naturally created a profound impression, and the immediate consequences of this vigorous action in Egypt, coupled with the assertion of Britain's rights in regard to Iraq, must be to raise British dignity and prestige in the Middle East to a higher level than it has reached since the Great War.