TREATY WITH IRAK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18730, 9 June 1924, Page 7

TREATY WITH IRAK.

RATIFICATION REFUSED.

THE BAGDAD ASSEMBLY.

DIFFERENCE WITH BRITAIN.

By Telegraph Press Association—Copyright. (Received 6,5 p.m.) Reufer. LOINDOi*, .Juno -7. Advices from Bagdad state that the Constituent Assembly has refused to ratify the treaty between Britain and Irak.

A message from Bagdad, under date of April 20, stated that an agitation, largely conducted by lawyers and accompanied by the wildest misrepresentations, had broken out against the acceptance of the AngloIrak treaty, which it was considered possible the Constituent Assembly might refuse to accept without large modifications. Indeed, it was reported that only 14 out of 100 deputies could be depended upon to vote for the treaty. The agitators assert that Britain docs not guarantee that the Mosul Vilayet will not be surrendered to Turkey, nor guarantee the defence of Irak's other frontiers. They say further that the treaty gives no financial assistance except for the maintenance of British forces in • Irak. On the other . hand, Irak, they declare, has to shoulder a large share of the Ottoman debt and the huge .expense of expansion of the national army, which will mean early bankruptcy. King Feisul and his Ministers were stated to be doing their utmost to counteract the agitation, but the deputies believed that if the Assembly rejected the treaty Britain would make large concessions in order to retain a footing in Irak.