The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-30

LOnQOn, OecemDe 6.-lSpeClal Not- respondence.)- )--A shining oasis in the
 desert of British unpreparedness for war was the fact-hitherto, l believe unpublished-that few weeks before the war broke out a British survey was completed of the hitherto un- mapped district between the Egyptian
 survey and the old Palestine explo- ration fund survey of Palestine. The maps were finished but not printed. The result is that in the pres ent brilliant campaign General Allen by has perfect maps of every wady
 and spring of the desert between Pal estine and Egypt, while those in the hands of the Turko-German forces are relatively incomplete and inaccurate. In this work of Palestinian explo- | ration and survey WIT. Masterman of
 Jerusalem, took continuous and &C., tive part. His knowledge at once of | the country's history, present condi- | ton and of the amazing blend of races l that inhabit Palestine is unsurpassed. l It was a joy to me, some months be- | fore war broke out, to go over the highly efficient hospital that Dr. Mas | terman has been developing and con- trolling for some years in Jerusalem. I The intimate sympathy with a peo- 1 pie alien in race and culture and re- ligion that can be secured by a doctor | can only be truly appreciated by those | who have personally witnessed such , work. This partially accounts for the
 fact that he has been able to keep
 In touch with the trend of things in Palestine right through the war 1 Can you tell me- I asked, 'how the troops in the Turkish army now retreating in Palestine are composed l racially%
 l There are," he replied, "certainly | Syrians from every village is Pa1es- tine This we know from the analysis | of the prisoners lists. There is also 1 proportion of Bedouin. Tn addition 1 there is a strong stiffening of Ana 1 tolian Turks, without which the fight l Ing material Gin a campaign against British troops) would be very poor. l Neither the Syrians nor the Arabs have 1 ever desired to fight for the Turkish government and their dislike of Ger
 many has been growing for years" Your impression of tIseir morale then" I asked. 'is not very favor- able?"
 .It Is quite certain" replied Dr. Masterman, that after the first re- pulse from the Suez canal it was touch and go whether the Turkish rank and file would not turn on the Germans in Palestine and massacre them. | Nothing succeeds like success with
 the Turks and nothing fails like fail
 ure. Germany promised them Egypt
 and Africa up to Tripoli. Now they see not only Egypt but Palestine, Syria
 and Mesopotamia slipping from them. All this weakens their morale "An amazing Incident that happened to friend of mine will illustrate the position. He had hotel in Jerusalem before tho war. He is now an inter- preter with the British forces in the
 east Tn recent fighting he had to in- terview batch of prisoners. The very first prisoner on recognizing him lit-
 orally fell on his neck weeping with excitement and joy. It was the Syrian landlord from whom he had rented his hotel in Jerusalem.
 "'Go on-go on,' said tho landlord,
 there's thousand more of us wait Ing to be captured up there to the northv"
 Dr. Masterman. therefore, declared that paralysis of morale will prob ably be serious factor in weakening
 Falkenhayns protected offensive from Aleupo.
 "The endorsements that the Turks
 
 Twill come from Aleppo How many can be snared to come up against Gen.
 eral Allenby depends partly on the Caucasus position where hitherto the Russians have held up considerable numbers of Turks and partly on whether Falkenhavn's main attack is to he in Mesopotamia."
 Already" hazarded. "the railway communications with Jerusalem are cut. Jerusalem cannot easily be rein. forced'
 T do not think" replied Dr. Mas terman 'that Jerusalem itself will be fortified. Nor is 1t likely to he im- mediatelv attacktd unless it is found. as is possible, to have heen evacuated I know" he continued "that last spring Jsmal Pssha, the command ant. wanted to evacuate Jerusalem ThA Germans said. No. the holy places need not he evacuated because we know the British will r~snect them'" ''The l'ne of offensive now Gas all through historv,." Dr. Masterson said. "is uD the rartime plain Already we are at Jaffa. The p'ain of sharon opens northward from the~e. think real resistance by the Turks will heen again when we roach Mt Carmel Then if we hold that and swinr eastward on to the plain Of F,sd~eelon we may rvt tNa -ni'wav at Afuli in the nlain
 has been killed in the warrine countries of Europe. There is a serious shorta~e
 in well bred fowls and this shortaoe will