JUBALAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19195, 11 June 1924, Page 7

JUBALAND

BARREN CONCESSION TO ITALY. 0 Prose Association—By Telegraph—Copyright, LONDON, June 9. (Received June 10, at 10.55 p.m.) , The Anglo-Italian experts who are ea-. gaged in the rectification of the Jubaland frontier have reached an agreement, ceding 43,000 square miles of Kenya to Italian Somaliland. The bulk of the country is semi-arid.—Sydney Son Cable. A recent cablegram stated that Italian experts were being sent to London to conclude an agreement with British experts on the lines laid down by Lord Milner and Signor Scialoja in 1920. The Jubaland boundary question was raised at the Peace Conference at Versailles by Lord Milner, who, on behalf of the British Government, made an offer to Italy of a comer of Kenya. The boundary line was purposely drawn through the desert in order to avoid so far as possible friction between the Somaliland and Kenya tribes for Lie possession of water holes (of which the principal ones in the neighbourhood are El Wak and the Lorian Swamp). In reply to the offer Signor Scialoja, then Italian Premier, proposed the expansion of the frontier. It was understood in 1920 that Britain was willing to concede a portion and that the Italian Government had dropped its claim to a portion. The Mussolini Government later made a claim to another area. Britain’s objections jto the further claim were; (1) That the Kenya tribes would have to cross the frontier in order to reach the Lorian. Swamp for supplies of water, and conflicts between them and the Somaliland tribes might develop into an international dispute between Britain and Italy; and (2) that one of the main trade mutes for Kenya passed through' the territory. It was to this strip that the dispute was narrowed down.