The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1923. THE NEAR EAST.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 43, 15 February 1923, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1923. THE NEAR EAST.

lu addition to her desire to see the governmenlts of the Near Eastern states made stable and to have some guarantee of permanent peace in that much-troubled region, Great Britain is vitally concerned with Near Eastern conditions, for the interests of her subjects In Turkey are large and important. The British import and export trade in Turkey is larger than that of any Power. About 10 per cent, of the Turkish Public Debt (£13,000,000 to £15,000,000) is British. Th e Telephone Company is almost entirely British capital. Half th e quays and docks in Constantinople are Brftish. The National Bank of Turkey is entirely Brit'sh capital. The mining concessions held by British firms are larger than those of any other country. Forty-six per cent, of the shipping which passed through the Bosphorus hefor e the war was British. British shipping companies have almost the entire carrying trade of the country. Fire

assurance companies do not publish figures, but it is generally under-

stood that three-quarters of the properties insured at the seaport towns are covered by British offices The banking: interest of nearly the whole of the export trade from the shipping ports of the Turkish Empire passed through Lon on. These and other vested interests are such that they put British commercial interests Irgher than those of any other foreign State. Britain would probably lose the greaer part of these if the Treaty rights or Capitulations were cancelled which Turkish traders and merchants are naturally anxious to bring about. As a matter of fact foreign traders in Constantinople are very favorably situated under th e Treaty clauses. Foreign traders, particularly the British, en joy a fairly largo monopoly of trade and commerce, and cannot be taxed without the consent o ' their own authorities, while Customs duties cannot he increased.