COLONEL LAWRENCE ACTIVE IN INDIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18577, 27 September 1928, Page 7

COLONEL LAWRENCE ACTIVE IN INDIA.

SAID TO BE SEEKING RED HEADQUARTERS. (L’nited Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) DELHI, September 25. The Punjab authorities are actively combating Red propaganda in the province. It is rumoured that Colonel Lawrence, the “uncrowned king of Arabia,” who is now in the Air Force, is disguised as a holy man and is engaged in a mission to discover the secret Bolshevist headquarters in Amritsar.—Australian Press Association. Colonel Lawrence’s uncanny influence over the Arabs had a far-reaching effect on the Near East campaign during the war. Educated at Oxford, a young, delicate-looking man then in his early twenties, he was studying achaeology when the war broke out. His unique and mysterious.

knowledge of the customs and the language of the Arabs, his sympathy with their cause, and his own unusual temperament, fitted him to become the leader of the tribes against the Turks. His subsequent exploits and amazing adventures earned him a reputation He took part in the peace negotiations at Versailles in 1919. and was adviser on Arab affairs to the Colonial Office in 1921-22. But he considered that the Allies had betrayed the Arabs, and according to Mr Robert Graves, i who has Lawrence’s authority for printing it. went to Buckingham Palace and, in an interview with King George, “explained personally to his sovereign that the part he had played

in the Arab revolt was dishonourable tg. himself and to his country and the Government. He had, by order, fed the Arabs with false hopes, and would now be obliged if he might be quietly relieved of the obligation to accept honours for succeeding in his fraud. He said respectfully as a subject, but firmly as an individual, that he intended to fight by straight means or crooked until his Majesty’s Ministers had conceded to the Arabs a fair settlement of their claims.” Accordingly, Colonel Lawrence declined the honours which had been awarded him. Shortly afterwards he resigned his commission and joined the Air Force as -a mechanic, under the name of Ross. His identity was discovered (it is said that an officer found out and sold the secret to a London paper for £3O), and he had to leave. Later he joined the Tank Corps, and now he is in the Air Force, having secured official permission this time. He has legally adopted the name of Shaw.