PERSIA’S DANGER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10815, 3 February 1921, Page 6

PERSIA’S DANGER

END OF BRITISH INFLUENCE » . WHAT THE WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS WOULD -MMAN . "NOISY S( AI.LYWAGS.' 1 Bv Telegraph — Proas * Asm.— Copyright Australian ai V / f'nb’n Association IfONDON, February 1. The Bagdad c»>rrespon<loa& of “The Times” strongly opposes the withdrawal of the British troops from Persia. He sa.vs the decision has caused a panic. Old-established businesses will he torn up Uy the roots. The whole fabric of l>riti-h influence—moral and economic - built up bv devoted labours extending over more than a century, threatens a collapse before, the menace of a fey >, nllywaga sitting at Rcslit, and preteruline to be Bolsheviks, who discover that if they make a noise they can frighten everybody, including Europeans. The corresponded:- says that, with the troorvs withdrawn, the Kemalists may attack Mesopotamia. The Turks are conduction powerful propaganda in Bagdad in favour of establishing Burhan Edtlin, the fourth son of the late Sultan Abdul Hamid, as Amir, while iladjaz and Syria are conduct* ing a propaganda in favour of tho Sheriffians. Referring to the internal conditions in. Mesopotamia, the correspondent says some of the wealthiest corporations in the work! have financial in tercet.sphere. He asks whv these do not make a huge loan to Britain to develop irrigation, which, ho claims, would send the value of the land tip in some instances from a shilling to £209 an acre. When responsible government is established, through the proposed assembly, security should be an absolute charge upon Mesopotamia. He concludes: “If neither corporations nor tho Treasury will take the risk. the sooner Mesopotamia is •yactiated the better.”