PEOPLE OF CYPRUS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 97, 27 April 1939, Page 12

PEOPLE OF CYPRUS

FEAR OF ITALIAN DOMINATION TREATMENT OF GREEKS [ Per Press Association ] WELLINGTON, April 26. Until recently Director of Education on the British Mediterranean is-, land of Cyprus, Canon F. D. Newham, 0.8. E., arrived at Wellington on a world tour. He said he had now retired after 39 years of educational work in Cyprus and was taking the opportunity to see other parts of the world. The people of Cyprus were apprehensive, he said, concerning Italy's aspirations in the Mediterranean. Cyprus was to all intents and purposes undefended. It had no naval base and no air base. The garrison stationed there was purely nominal — 100 to 120 men. The Italians could simply walk in when they liked and subdue it in a week. Cyprus was a place of some strategic value in the Mediterranean. The Greek population was very much afraid of Italian domination, which their compatriots had experienced in Rhodes and other islands of the Greek Archipelago held. by Italy. The Italians treated the Greeks very severely. They had to stand up, as it were, when the gong went e and shout “Viva II Duce*’’ or whatever it was they had to salute whenever Signor Benito Mussolini was mentioned, and were forced to speak Italian, their own language being permitted only in the privacy of their houses. Canon Newham said life on Cyprus was very pleasant. The climate was delightful, with four months of real summer on end, the rainy seasons in November and February, and all the test of the year brilliantly line. He was going back there in August after three weeks’ touring New Zealand and after visiting Canada and England.