SPAIN'S "LITTLE WAR."

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 212, 6 September 1924, Page 6

SPAIN'S "LITTLE WAR."

The situation in Morocco has again assumed a critical aspect, perhaps indeed more critical than ever. We have heard little of events in that distracted country, for the Spanish Government has exercised a rigorous censorship over all news dispatched from the seat of war, but it is quite certain that matters are far more serious than is generally believed. The Moors are a warlike people, who at one time conquered nearly the whole of Spain and Portugal and a large portion of France. But for the victory of Charles Martel at Tours, they might have overrun Europe, and in the words of Gibbon, "perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet." In spite of the humiliating concession made by the Spanish Government to Kaisuli, the fighting still continues. The expenses caused by the war have proved a heavy drain on the Spanish Treasury; the Moorish campaign has caused a wave of discontent throughout the Peninsula, resulting in the downfall of more than one Ministry. Yet, it is noteworthy that while the Spaniards have been unable to pacify the comparatively-small strip of territory which has been allotted to them in Xorth Morocco, the French have succeeded in pacifying the much larger portion,of the country which is now recogi nised as their special sphere: this, too, without much fighting. The French I protectorate includes the richest part of the country and the nrincirjal cities. Railways have been built in this zone; an aeroplane service has been established to Casablanca; the country is being gradually developed: and year by year the sphere of French influence is being extended until it now practically includes the whole of the country north of the Atlas range, a region possessing a fine climate and a fertile soil, within a few hours' journey from Europe, and likely in the near future to prove one of France's most valuable colonial possessions. "IVliat is the reason of Spain's failure to pacify this small strip of the TiifT coast, in spite of the vast expenditure of blood and treasure already incurred? Doubtless the state of chaos which has prevailed in Spain for some decades has proved a severe handicap. It is notorious that the country is badly governed, that COrru'JUon is rife, and general i:i;competence prevails. Tt was a rvngnijtion of this fact which led to the r.pipointment of General de Rivera as virtual Dictator of the Peninsula, with ifull powers to inaugurate what reforms ; lie considered necessary. But ds Rivera, • thoujrh a man of undoubted honesty. lability, energy and fearlessness (all ivery necessary qualities under the preisent circumstances!, has found the task a more difficult one than was at first supposed. The general outlook for .Spain is not pleasant; it is not improb- | able that the Spanish Government will Ibe compelled to abandon the part of the Riff coast which they now occupy. The loss of prestige will probably he no greater than in the case of the. British who in 1662 took possession of Tangier and the surrounding district, and ffor somewhat simitar reasonsT abandoned it in 1684. They also found their Kiff possession a costly and useless one. The question then arises, if Spain abandons her protectorate in Northern Morocco,