14 JANUARY 1944, Page 14

CYPRUS

Sin,—The other day I came across a Cypriot soldier serving in the Pioneer Corps. His people are immigrants from Greece. I asked him if the Cypriots wanted to be united with Greece. " Well," he answered, " that is what the rich people want and the upper class, for they want to rule. But the others don't want that. Besides, there are Turks and Jews in Cyprus, and they don't want that either. The trouble with the Greeks is that they can't make up their mind about what they want and what they don't want."

I relate this conversation for what it is worth, but soldiers are apt to reduce a situation to its essentials.—Yours, &c., L. R. M.