1938-02-09 — Page 8

2582-4 ZAAJUUSTULAS AMOR

THE CHINA MAIL FEBRUARY

THE

To-night's The WORLD

Night!

Farewell Band Concert

by the Band of the 2nd Btn.

THE ROYAL WELCH FUSILIERS

(By Kind Permission of Lt. Col. D. M. Barchard and Officers)

AUGMENTING

THE ROYAL WELCH FUSILIERS' CHOIR

OF 40 TRAINED VOICES

RENDERING WELCH AIRS, ETC.

IN THE

PENINSULA HOTEL

LOUNGE

TO-NIGHT AT 9 P.M.

NO ADMISSION CHARGE

THE HONGKONG & SHANGHAI HOTELS, LTD.

000

GOES BY

ADDY, oughtn't people to

"D know

¿

more about what's

going on in the Merride.

Medirreta

.. the

"The Mediterranean?

yes, they should."

the

Well-

"Well, why do the gentlemen in Parliament" always use. such long words about such things that no one ever knows what they mean?"

"It's the way they're brought up." "With cotton wool in their mouths?"

"Yes, and ears, too, sometimes." "But, daddy, what is happening out there to make them so grumpy and excited?”

"Well. in the first place, we must keep it friendly for our ships to sail through because that's the way British ships reach large slabs of the Empire. If there was a war on round the Mediterranean, In which we were concerned, the ships wouldn't be able to go. Is that clear?"

"Yes, daddy."

"The Mediterranean is shaped rather like an anaemic sausage, and, luckily, at the moment we've got the two ends of the sausage fairly nicely tied up: Gibraltar at one end and Port Said at the other.

"But the snag about Gibraltar is that you can't build a proper aero- drome there (and aerodromes are going to macter a lot in the next pillow fight), and if Spain were ever to become the property of an other country which didn't like us,

-BY "ULYSSES"

they could shoot and attack from just over the water.

"You see Spain hasn't been. on any particular side for a long time, but there's a war going on there which might end up with it belong- ing to Germany, or Italy, or some- one like that.”

"What are we doing about it, daddy?"

"Well, we're trying to be friends with France.

Mr.

Eden is smil-

ing at them a lot.”.

"Is that why you smile at French girls, daddy?"

"Hush, child, No. We must be friends with France because they are the one European country out- şide our own for whom the Medi- terranean is

9 already a business necessity.

"You see they've got a lot land in North Africa, they get 60 per cent, of their oil from Iraq, and. they must keep the route open Indo-China."

of

to

"And what about the right hand end, daddy?”

"Well, we're a bit better off there because we've got an agreement with Egypt which allows us to keep a small army out there, and to use Alexandría as a harbour for our warships if and when it was need- ed.

"But there might still trouble in the Red Sea, which hangs down from the right-hand end of the sausage. The whole bother that there are several- countries that don't love us, notably one right in the middle of the Mediterranean- shaped like a boot; and some people

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