The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1896.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 253, 26 October 1896, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1896.

For the cause that lacks assißtanos, For tho -wrong that needs resistance, For the future ln ths distance. And the good that we can do.

Once again conflicting European interests threaten fresh trouble in Africa. As is usual in connection with disputes in the Dark Continent,. Great Britain is one of the parties involved; and the other is France, who has never ceased to regard with a jealous eye the extension of British influence on the Southern shores of the Mediterranean. Our movements in Egypt have been a source of constant irritation to the fiery Frenchmen, and now fresh cause lor alarm and anxiety has been given them by the alleged intention of the British to annex the empire of Morocco. Morocco is the westernmost of the Barbary States, and occupies the extreme north-west corner of Africa. One of its chief ports looks across the Straits of Gibraltar to the great British fortress. It is the only independent State in 2 quarter of the great continent which is regarded by France as peculiarly within her sphere of aggrandisement. From Algeria, now a French province, which adjoins Morocco on the east, the Republic has extended its influence southward across the Sahara to the Gulf of Guinea. In fact, if one examines a quite recent map of Africa, it will be seen that the French claim takes in almost the whole shoulder of the Continent, with the exception of the territory of the Royal Niger Company and the^Spanish Protectorate on the west coast. But a great deal of this vast area is comparatively useless. Probably the best pari of it is Morocco, which is really a possession worth having; and unquestionably the French have always had their minds set on its acquisition. Its position on the Mediterranean gives it a strategic value to begin with, and though, perhaps, the French are inclined to over-estimate its importance frqm that point of view as we are inclined to over-estimate the importance of Gibraltar, still there is no question that a nation holding the southern shores of the Mediterranean in that locality would have certain advantages over its neighbours. It would be ratber, however, on account of its natural resources that Morocco would be a valuable acquisition to an energetic European people. The country has a magnificent climate, and a soil capable of producing anything, and although the interior has been little explored there is reason to believe that it contains great mineral wealth. It has been said that under a better Government Morocco might become the granary ot Europe as Barbary was in Roman times. The area of the empire is as large as that of France.

No one can blame France for casting a longing eye on this rich country. Had Great Britain occupied the same position with regard to it as France has done, there is pretty fair reason for supposing that we should have eedea-

voured long before this to acquire it. That France has not prosecuted her claims more vigoiously is simply owing to the restraint put on her by the mutual jealousies of the European Powers whose representatives have their station at Tangier. Were it not for these same jealousies, the glaring misgovernment under which the country suffers would be a thing of yesterday, for there is not one of the Powers that would not willingly take in hand the development of this magnificent territory did their neighbours offer no obstacle. Frequently the lawlessness of certain sections of the inhabitants has invited European interference. The piratical proclivities of tbe dwellers on the coast especially have on more than one occasion led a Power whose ships have suffered lo meditate the overthrow of the Sultan's weak authority ; but as we said before, vigorous and conclusive action has always been checked by international jealousies.

The present rumour of British annexation which has given so much anxiety to France apparently had its origin in connection with a piratical outrage which occurred a short time ago. Our cable columns a week or so back contained a paragraph to the effect that some ±_iff pirates had pillaged a Bri.ish vessel. It is not to be supposed that the Home authorities will permit such a thing to go unpunished, and probably they have made representations which have suggested to France, who is always suspicious of England, the likelihood of British annexation. For our own part we hardly think it probable that at this time Great Britain would care to display a grasping hand in that quarter of the • world. She has too much to look after elsewhere, and cannot afford to stir up new enmities. Most likely she intends to get satisfaction for the indignity and loss suffered by her subjects, but annexation is far from her thoughts. Much more probable is it that? France is pretending a fear she does not feel merely in order to embarrass Great Britain, and to give her an opportunity of forwarding her own interests in Morocco as a counter move to our advance up the Nile.