EGYPTIAN CRISIS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XL, Issue 9153, 10 November 1919, Page 5

EGYPTIAN CRISIS

SIR V. CHIROL'S WARNING

(Per Press Association—Copyright). (Received November 10, 10.15' a.m.) ("Times.") LONDON, November 6. "We ,are moving down an inclined plane in Egypt Avhich threatens to end in another conflict or anarchy," says Sir Valentine Chirol, who is contributing a vivid, series of articles based on forty years' study of the Natives'. character, aims and tendency. "There is,'" he adds, "a suspicion that in pursuit of the chimeras, the British Government has not yet taken the slightest steps to check the growth of the absurd myth that a protectorate means slavery. Marshal Allenby, whose return is anxiously awaited, should be authorised to explain that the protectorate does not exclude self-govern-ment, and participation in the benefits and freedom for which the Empire battled,, and Egypt herself assisted to secure.' The strikes are not all political. The-increasing economic burdens of the poor, especially in the toAvns, largely contributed to the unrest, and have given agitators an opportunity to fasten the odium on the Government, and cause the word 'protectorate' to stink in the nostrils of all classes. Egypt waxed fat- in war-time, - but the prosperity was unequally distributed. The country SAvarms with Englishmen whose affluence and extravagance, contrasted with the Natives', penury, are associated in protectorate rule. One of the most serious developments is the gbtrangement of the Fellaheen, who have( been friendly since the British occupation, but are now worked up into a fever of bitter discontent against the British. Theii- hatred is yielding readily to the incitements of Mohammedan fanatics and other revolutionaries."