They're Cheering The Lads In "Blighty"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 14 September 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

They're Cheering The Lads In "Blighty"

domination of Rumania, not to mention her increased influence over Hungary and Bulgaria. One day history will decide the truth of the Arab entry into the war 011 the side of the Entente; a subject up to now the cause of much bitterness. In the main it would appear the Arab people under Sharif Husian of Mecca, believed they would receive national independence as their reward for this service. Syria may still have latent ambitions in this direction. Passing over those years to the days , of post-war settlement we come to the time when France secured a mandate over Syria. Of the four Great Powers, Britain, France, America and Italy, the Syrians openly expressed themselves as not desiring association with France; America being tlicir first choice, with Britain second. Italy was not the least interested at that time. She comes in now as a vulture after the kill. The French mandate in Syria has an unhappy record, one largely of wasteful conflict in contradistinction to that of Britain in Iraq, another Arab province, and this though the course there did not run smoothly at one period. British good sense found a way past the temporary difficulty. It cost France, up to a few years ago, some £120,000,000 on military requirements alone to retain control of the country whose care she so assiduously sought, and succeeded in having entrusted to her. This was largely due to the fact that those *sent to Syria as governors were wont to look upon the more cultured Syrians after the fashion they adopted to the more primitive peoples of North Africa. So arrogant and, at times, brutal did this become that rebellion broke out in July, 1925, beginning in the Jabal-cl-Druze and spreading over the whole territory before being crushed. The French were forced to use the most-rigorous measures to suppress this rising, which wt*s not accomplished until 1927. The French then appear to have discovered the folly of such an attitude toward the Syrians. They retained I'ieir desire to keep a firm hold on an unwilling people, offering them a treaty of alliance. Perhaps it might be said that-this was the only means remaining by which they could possibly hope to retain their hold. The treaty was rejected by the Syrian Chamber of Deputies, leading to further drastic • action by the suppression of the Chamber and restriction of the functions of Government to those of a mere channel for the execution of the orders of the French High" Commissioner, enabling him to impose his will with an appearance of legality. N All this resulted in another upheaval » in 1930, which, in its turn, died down, after a general - strike on France, promising the Nationalist leaders the opportunity for a delegation to discuss in Paris negotiations for a settlement on mutual lines. The Syrian delegation arrived in Paris in March 1936, to find there was a wide" difference between the French conception : of a treaty and their own, which was modelled on the Anglo-Iraq Treaty of 1930 in all its essential provisions and based on the unity of Syria, Lebanon having been previously considered a ' separate • entity by the French and ' treated as such; indeed being enlarged at the expense of Syria proper to suit French purpose and to the annoyance of Syrians and Lebanese. The Quai d'Orsay, anything but anxious to accord Syria such a measure J of independence, refused the delegation's request. One of the many changes of c Go\*fernment in France of those tragic ,

r BALLOON BARRAGE. Terror by land is checked 1 liy arrogant flash of steel; , Wc hold our coasts secure \ By might of cannon and keel. 2 'Gainst horror that comes on wings * We bare our arms and dig, And set, for defence, in our skies, A silken, preposterous pig. L Glasgow. —Jenny T. Murray.

ECHELON! 3 At last I think I have found out at least some of the perpetrators of this monstrosity used in its present form— echelon. In a paragraph in the "Star" I read tlia»t sub-editors found this word much more convenient to lit into a column caption than the old one, reinforcement. Well, if ever I catch a subeditor 1 will know what to do with him. I But then sub-editors are wily fellows: the use of this word "echelon" proves that; and 110 doubt they would excuse . themselves by saying it was devised in G.H.Q. or some other ungetatable place- ' Anyhow, thanks bo to Allah, we should soon see the death of this awful 1 foreigner, on the complete mobilisation of the New Zealand Division. Or will we ?—"Trooper." + .<> + +_ COMING EVENTS Avondale R.S. Club , A social and (lance in aid of the local Soldiers' Comforts Fund will be held in the Town Hall, Avondale, on Wednesday,. September 25. Good music, good prizes, good supper. Remuera R.S. Club To-night (Saturday).—Ladies' night, S o'clock, Club Room. Bowls every Tuesday from 7.45, Club Kooni, 77, Green . Lane Road. Eden-Roskill R.S. Club To-night (Saturday).—Cards, progressive 500. September 17; Tuesday.—lndoor bowls,club night. September IS, Wednesday.—General quarterly meeting. September 19, Thursday.—Club dance. September 20, Friday.—Office, library, club gamce. Mount Albert R.S. Club Thursday, September 19.—Bowk (open). Wednesday, September 25.—80w1s (open). All functions in clubroom, Morningside Hall, opposite railway station. Point Chevalier R.S. Club Tuesday, September 17.—Executive meeting. > Wednesday, Soptcmber 18. — Club bowls. Saturday, September 21.—Members' night. Newmarket R.S. Club Bowls, Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays; cards, Tuesdays; whist, 500, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The club has laid down a new floor, thus eliminating past troubles, and quite a number of trophies have been donated by ex-servicemen for various competitions. New Zealand Engineers, N.Z.E.F. Annual reunion, Masonic Hall (next door to Grand Hotel), Princes Street, Auckland, to-night (Saturday).