MESOPOTAMIAN FORCES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 351, 20 March 1922, Page 6

MESOPOTAMIAN FORCES.

SARPJSON MUCH REDUCED. PRKSKNCE OF Alll SQUADRONS. LONDON. March [). Mr Winston Churchill, speaking in tin House ol Commons, reviewing conditions in Mesopotamia, said he had In en able to reduce the garrison from twenty-three battalions to nine, and hoped eventually further to reduce it to four. This was possible owing to our air lorccs, of which there were eight squadrons now in the country. The only considerable body of Imperial troops there was stationed near Mosul, guarding against possible hostile Turkish movements. Mr Churchill added:—"Thanks to the new air mail service, the distance between London and Bagdad has Ix'en reduced from six weeks to a fortnight and Uk distance has actually been covered in seven days." Mesopotamia had had a peaceful year, thanks to the establishment ol the independent Arab State under King Peisul. Mr Churchill emphasised the difficulty in Palestine bei ause lu'itain was openly pledged to help lln Zionists, and the Arab majority in Palestine was unsympathetic with that movement. Nine thousand carefullyselected Jewish settlers had been admitted, and had int reduced wealth and industry. The cost of administration would be reduced from eight millions during the current year to four millions next year, and thereafter to two millions annually.

.Mr As(|iiith predicted that trouble was inevitable with the Kurds and possibly the Turks. Lie stressed the fact that a real lasting treaty with Turkey was necessary to the security of Mcso])otamia, but ho would never be a party to any policy which would result in the re-establishment of Turkish rule' over piiv Christian population.—A. andN.Z. cable.