WAR DANGER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23044, 21 November 1936, Page 17

WAR DANGER

“NOW IN THE WEST” SOLDIER-DIPLOMAT’S VIEWS “ The next war will in the west. In the past, uprisings have usually started in and around the Balkan States, but the danger now lies m the west.” This statement was made last week by Lieutenant-colonel F. CunliffeOwen, a leading British diplomat, who has spent most of his life in the Near East, and who arrived in Sydney by the Strathnaver. . _ “A conflict between Russia and Germany is a definite possibility, he con-, tinued. “ Europe is in a state quite as dangerous as it was before the Great War Hitler must be a very wonderful man, to have won the allegiance of the Germans as he has done. He is greater than Mussolini, for, after an, the Germans are a different kind of people to deal with from the Italians. If the Germans follow Hitler, he must be a great man.” Colonel Cunliffe-Owen recently spent some time in Gibraltar and in Spam. “ The insurgents look like winning, he said. “If they do it will be a victory for disciplined troops. General Franco is a good soldier, and his men are trained." PALESTINE AND DARDANELLES Speaking of the trouble in Palestine, Colonel Cunliffe-Owen said that the Arabs who were figuring in the uprisings were not the best type. They were the town Arab, and not the fine nomad Arab. Britain was adopting a firm and commendable policy in Palestine, and it would be a great mistake if she ever relinquished her hold. “ The refortiflcation of the Dardanelles is not a bad move from our point of view,” he continued. ” The old danger that was there no longer exists. Turkey is a stable country now, and is under-populated. I have a great admiration for the Turks, and they are good allies. Turkish soldiers under British officers would be the marvel of the world.” Colonel Cunliffe-Owen said that he had seen the Australian soldiers in the Dardanelles campaign. They were probably the greatest fighters in the world.

ADVENTUROUS LIFE Colonel Cunliffe-Owen’s life has been packed with adventure. He was at Salonika in 1909, when the Turkish revolution broke out, and during his term at Athens he was in the thick of many small disturbances. “ My most interesting mission was in 1917, when I was sent to try to persuade King Ibn Saud to side with us. I approached him from the Persian Gulf side, and reached his capital, ■Ryadh, by an arduous 12-day camel ride. I took him machine-guns and mountain-guns, both of which were in much demand. He assented to our requests, advanced and took the whole country, and has always been a faith-' ful ally. “In 1918 I was put in charge of a camp of 45,000 Christian refugees in Mesopotamia. They were mostly Assyrians and Armenians. Contrary to general belief, these are good people, and I like them very much. When I left Mesopotamia, I was employed by the League of Nations to assist in the settling of many thousands of Greeks in Cyprus, Crete, and other parts. This kept me employed until 1927.” AFRICAN EXPERIENCE Colonel Cunliffe-Owen said that during the war in British Somaliland in 1903, a boat in which his party had been attempting to reach a waiting cruiser had been caught by a monsoon and swamped. He and his companions were washed ashore. A naval officer then swam from the cruiser to the shore with a line, on which the members of the party were obliged to climb, hand over hand, over the raging seas to the cruiser. On another occasion Colonel CunliffeOwen set out in an open Arab dhow to reach Mesopotamia, a trip whim normally took 36 hours. Adverse winds were encountered, and the journey took 10 days, with no shelter on the dhow and very little food and water. Colonel Cunliffe-Owen is keenly interested in cricket and riding. He speaks Turkish fluently. Besides his British decorations, he has many Greek and Serbian orders.