24 AUGUST 1918, Page 2

British troops from Mesopotamia have reached Baku on the Caspian,

and are co-operating with Armenians and Russians under a Russian General in the defence of the oil city against the Turks. Another detachment is at Kraaaovodsk, on the eastern shore of the Caspian opposite Baku, where the Trans-Caspian Railway begins. Tioops from India, conveyed by a new railway into Seistan, have worked their way through,Khorassan to Meshed, and are moving westward along the Trans-Caspian line. The secret of these highly interesting moves—the work of months— has been well kept. It is good to know that the Government had done what they could to check the Turco-German designs on Central Asia before their hasty critics began to realize that the danger existed. The Baku expedition started in February.