MESOPOTAMIA.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 762, 20 July 1916, Page 8

MESOPOTAMIA.

CAMPAIGN TO BE DEBATED. AN ENQUIRY SUGGESTED. Rr-ultr't Tclfjram*. LONDON, July 18. Mr Asquith said the transport difficulties in connection with the campaign in Mesopotamia arose from the necessity of sending forward seven divisions of troops instead of two. The seven divisions had pushed on in advance of their transport, in the hope of effecting the relief of General Townshend at Kut-et-Amara. Sir Edward Carson said that thousands of people thought that the whole campaign in Mesopotamia had been conducted with criminal negligence. He asked for an opportunity to debate the matter, including the allegation that the troops had been asked to tight with obsolete guns. Mr Asquith promised to afford an opportunity to debate the matter on Thursday. LONDON, July 19. The Unionist War Committee is dissatisfied with Mr Asquith's attitude in regard lo the Mesopotamia and Dardanelles campaigns, and has requested Sir Edward Carson to move that a Select Committee be appointed to enquire into the conduct of the operations on Gallipoli Peninsula, in the Dardanelles, and in Mesopotamia, the scope of enquiry lo include the requirements of the troops and the provision made for the sick and wounded, with the object of fixing the responsibility of the departments whose duly it was to attend to these matters. The Liberal War Committee has tabled a motion in the name of Sir F. Cawley, calling for the production of the medical reports and other papers. Colonel Winston Churchill, who has joined the latter committee, attended the meeting.

OVERSEA DOMINIONS.

FRENCH STATESMEN PAY TRIBUTES. UNITED IN THOUGHT AND FEELING. « Australian and X.Z. Cable Xnodation. PARIS, July 18. The Prime Minister of France, M. Briand, at a luncheon to the British oversea Parliamentary delegates, said: —"My welcome is not an ephemeral manifestation of courtesy, but an expression of the ardent appreciation of a nation that is making the same sacrifices and is united to you by the fraternity of arms. The moment Britain drew her sword legions of enthusiastic young men from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa, proud to call themselves citizens of the British Empire, traversed the oceans, bound to unknown countries, in defence of liberty. It was an event the memory of which will be gloriously preserved throughout the ages as a symbol of the ideal stretching beyond frontiers and over continents." President Poincare, in receiving the delegates, said their visit marked in a fresh shape the road Britain and FYance were travelling together with the object of securing the triumph of right and liberty and closer union and fruitful collaboration. There was no longer any question of distance, and considerations of space had vanished. Britain and France were for ever united in thought and feeling.