EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS = Tim TuE -, TACNA-ARICA DISPUTE. Mr. Oscar
V. Salomon (Consul-General in London for Peru) writes ". The whole trouble is rooted in the unjust, immoral- and illegal rapacity of Chile, who, covetous of Peru's rich nitrate territory of Tarapoca,„long and secretly Pr".- pared and then suddenly plunged Peru, without warning, into the throes of a sangidnary war of conquest. The result, was the confiscation Of the greedily desired Tarapaca, and the Occupation of Tacna and Arica:. By._ the. TreatY of Anon, 1884, Chile pledged her honour to vacate these territories in 1894. By every conceivable pretext that ingenuitY.and Craft could devise, however, she has eVaded the restoration of these provinces to Peru, always promising and never perform- ing, while to-day her tactics, conceived for the set purpose of avoiding a Plebiscite, are plain for all the world to see. - Let her evacuate Tacna and Aiica, and there is hope for the renewal of international friendship : let her 'retain them; and all such hope dies."
AN INDIAN SANDHUF.ST.---Mi. Basil P. Howell writes :— "Sir George MacMtum in his article on " An Indian Sand- il9rst," does not detail the disabilities of Indians in the Army. Indians are not admitted into the Tank Corps or Armoured Car Compaaieg. In the Artillery, Indians are not 'adinitted - is gunners in the Royal I Horse Artillery, or Field Artillery,: or in the Mediuni ' Artillery, and it was not until 1918 that they were eligible for any of the King's. Commission's. There are no Indian officers either in the Headquarters or in the Staff of Commands, where they are employed in only the clerical and other inferior posts. As to the plea that indiani have yet to prove their capacity for leadership, this • may apply (although there is very little foundation for the state= ment) to the combatant services, but it is difficult to imagine what answer can be given to the Indian claims to enter the Commissioned Ranks of the Ancillary Services such as SUpPly; Transport, etc: From the financial point of view alone a change will- undoubtedly have to be 'made in our present Military Policy in India. Indians will not tolerate much longer an expenditure upon the defence of the country which amounts to about sixty-six and two-thirds per cent, of the net expenditure of the Central - Government.- " The Eight Units Scheme," which has commended itself to no one in India, is impopUlar among IndianOfficers, the main reason being that it deprives them of association with the British, and, particularly, bars their promotion."
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