ALLIES ESTABLISH NAVAL BASE IN GREEK ISLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16203, 13 April 1916, Page 5

ALLIES ESTABLISH NAVAL BASE IN GREEK ISLANDS.

FORCES LA! ED AT HABBOUI 'OF ABGOSTOLI.

MEASURES STATED TO BE FOR PURELY DEFENSIVE PURPOSE

' (Received April 12. 0.40 p.m.) Athens, April 11. The British and the French Ministers informed the Premier of Greece, M. Skouloudis, that it was intended to land forces in Ceplmlonia, one of the lonian Islands, especially in the harbour of Argostoli. They gave assurances that the sovereign rights of Greece would be respected. '

The Premier energetically announced that he could only protest at this fresh infringement of Greek sovereignty. The British Minister was afterwards received in audience by the King.

The British and the French Legations have announced the establishment of a naval base at Argostoli as a purely defensive measure.

Cephalonia., the largest of the group of seven lonian Islands, is situated off the western coast of Greece, almost directly opposite the Gulf of Corinth. The harbour and town of Argostoli lie near the head of a small, gulf in the western portion of the island. Tho population of Argostoli is estimated to be 10,000. The extreme length of Cephalonia is 31 miles, and its breadth varies from twenty to three miles. Along with the other islands in the group, Cephalonia was taken out of French hands in 1809 by a British naval force, which thereupon proclaimed a protectorate. The group was subsequently ceded to Greece in 1864.