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[Page 679]

too having happened while, as far as we know the British & French troops are stuck up at Stroumnitza [Strumica, Macedonia] and thereabouts. In the making of calculations in regard to Turkey it is customary to forget that the population, under the rule of the Sultan at Constantinople, in Europe and Asia Minor amounts to forty-five millions, of as many as inhabit the United Kingdom. The best of fighting material in some parts, each of whom can be fed and clothed for a few piasters per week, and who, in such war as the present, can keep going for many years without exhausting requirements in money and food. It is quite possible that an army of 300 000 fighting men may be sent to attack the Suez Canal, and if they be well officered and sufficiently armed the chances of their crossing will not be small.
One must remember too that the advance in Russia has been made while the soldiers of the Kaiser held at bay in Belgium and France, the two powers which as fighting units are today reckoned the 2nd or 3rd strongest in the world. Add to all this that in all probability today trains are running direct from Berlin to Constantinople through territory controlled by German officers. Is it then wonder that each Balkan State is terrorised by the Teuton Monster?

Another very important telegram this morning:–
"Mr. Bonar Law said: (inter alia) 'The representatives of Labour as well as of Commerce must set their faces against any increased pay in connexion with the war requirements. As a Government we must keep down expenditure; as individuals we must recognise that times might be coming which will require sacrifices from every portion of the community'." A kite political

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