EGYPT'S FUTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 50, 1 March 1922, Page 5

EGYPT'S FUTURE.

INDEPENDENCE RECOGNISED.

WITH RESERVATIONS. AIT OFFICIAL STATEMENT. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright) (Received 9 a.in.) LONDON, February 28. It is officially announced that Egypt has been created an independent sovereign State, subject to certain reservations. The Protectorate has been terminated.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.) Whether this announcement means the end of the serious dispute between the British Government and the Egyptian Nationalists depends upon the acceptance of the new terms in Kgypt. What tne "certain reservations" are is not stated, and this matter is all important. Negotiations have been proceeding tor some time. Britain has been willing to terminate the protectorate, and grant the status of independent sovereignty, but the offer has been a subject to reservations, and it is on these that the negotiations have split. Adly Pasha, the leader of the Egyptian Moderate Nationalists, went to England to negotiate with the Government last year, but returned unsuccessful, and the failure was followed by repressive measures by the British authorities in Egypt. The cause of the difference wae the extent of British military control in Egypt under the new constitution.- It was understood that the Nationalists would agree to control of the Suez Canal zone, but foe British Government, influenced by the War Office, wanted the right to maintain garrisons in Egypt itself; which Adly Pasha contended was incompatible with independence. The future of the Soudan, and the rights and safety of foreign communities in Egypt are also involved in the negotiations.