Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1925. CAMPAIGN IN SYRIA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 8 December 1925, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1925. CAMPAIGN IN SYRIA.

A cablegram yesterday stated that there was a. state of siege at Damascus, and that the brigands were displaying considerable activity. The campaign in Syria has been very unsatisfactory from a .French point of view. The mandated territories in Africa and Oceana, which arc inhabited by comparatively primitive races, have given little • rouble. But the" mandates in Asia are in quite a different category. They are held over peoples of a more advanced civilisation, and both Britain and France have found their responsibilities anything but a sinecure. In Palestine, Britain lias had to cope with the 'problems- arising from a mixed population, the various elements in which , hate each other. No matter what Britain does, no matter how studiously she endeavours to keep the balance, even she is accused of favouring ong section or another. In Iraq Britain lias to govern a people demoralised by centuries of ma’administration, the effects of which are hard to undo. Under the Ottoman regime the artless tribesman never dreamed of paying his taxes unless at the point of the swords of the gendarmerie, and he does not respond to the less drastic persuasions of the British officials. In Syria Prance has had to assert her authority over a stubborn and warlike breed, and this has proved a difficult and expensive business. ITardlv wns the ink dry on the treaty when France came into collision with the Kurds and the Arabs in the west. r ii’C-e disturbances were short-lived, but from beginning to end the Druses have been a thorn in the side of the French.