We read in the Times of Thursday that contrary to
Article XV. of the Armistice Agreement of 1918 the Turks last Saturday requisitioned the Smyrna-Aidin railway, which is a British property, together with £280,000 worth of atoms, and sent the British manager to Constantinople. Inquiries show that the Turks have not requisitioned the Cassaba line- to Smyrna:.
which belongs to the French. This serious and discouraging news must be of interest to all who are versed in the history of Turkey, for the Smyrna-Aidin railway has a considerable record. It was opened by " the Great Elchi," Lord Stratford de Red- cliffe, in 1858—the first railway laid in Turkey—and was a prosperous and well-managed concern of great value to the Turks, as well as to its owners, up to the time of the Great War. Since then, as may be imagined, there has been no return upon the capital, which amounts in all to over £5,000,000.
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