MOROCCO AW THE CIVIL WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 229, 26 September 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

MOROCCO AW THE CIVIL WAR.

Native Contempt For Spaniards. BRITISH ADMIRAL REVIEWS SITUATION. Admiral Sir Guy Gaunt, K.C.M.G., the writer of the following article, is a British naval officer with a record of distinguished service in peace and war. He was Naval Attache at the British Embassy in Washington during the Great War and later served in the Naval Intelligence Department of the British Admiralty. Sir Guy Gaunt lives in Tangier and has a thorough first-hand knowledge of the subject on which he writes.

LONDON, August. IT is difficult to estimate the result that the civil war in Spain may have on Moroccan affairs. For a long time past Spain's interest in Morocco lias been very half-hearted; in fact, as one living cheek by jowl with the Protectorate, it has recently appeared as if Spain would be glad to be rid of the whole business. The Protectorate has been of no use to them, and a, heavy expense. Autonomy for the Moors has been more or less openly talked of. The trouble is, if that came to pass where does France come in? At present, and for a long time to come, France must be more or less sitting on a volcano. Unlike the Englisn in India, the French in Morocco are dealing with, for all practical purposes, one race and religion; small differences in tribal and religious sects there are, but otherwise one can treat Morocco as one nation. The Moor has a hopeless contempt for the Spaniard. He beat him badly in the war, and if it had not been for French help Spain would have had to pack up. Now, not only has Spain armed a large number of these men, but she has used them to help quell disturbances on the mainland of Spain, and add to that a shortage of pay and rations and one has ' a first-class reason for a Moorish rising. The dislike of the Moor for the Spaniard is very deep-rooted. Responsible and th'f.king Moors have said to me, "How would you like to count your cattle in the morning and have to buy them back from the man who stole them in the afternoon?"

Comic Opera Inefficiency. I -was on the Mole at Tangier last week when a Spanish cruiser, which had practically stopped her engine and way, just outside the harbour, was attacked by aircraft. Anything more inefficient would be difficult to imagine—assuming, of course, that the air arm is as dangerous as is claimed for it. At a large stationary target the bombs that I saw fall were not within four hundred yards. The anti-aircraft seem#! to be about equally inaccurate, but of course unless one is pretty well directly on the line of fire it is more difficult to judge. Among the hundreds of Moors who watched° it the comments were very freely expressed, <c What right ha-ve these people to do this within the threemile limit?" Of their contempt for the amateur efforts of the combatants there was no doubt. For a long time past the discontent "has reached nearly -bursting" point. The difficulty for the men who are. ready to rise is, what is going to happen afterwards? Under the Treaty of Algeciras, I believe that in the event of Spain clearing out, France has the next claim to tno protectorate. Moorish Preference for Teutons. The Moors—and I write with a good knowledge of some of the leading chiefs—would welcome the English. Many of their leaders who have been to Egypt have told me so. But better still, for some obscure reason, they would like the German. I can't discover the reason for this affection for the Teuton, but undoubtedly it exists, so much so that though there are good arid efficient ships, English and otherwise, well equipped to handle the pilgrim trade, I have been assured that one under the German flag would get all the business. Few people understand how illiterate and backward a huge percentage of the population of Spain is. Excellent sou for the agitator to sow his seeds. I often stay at a fine old fortress monastery, housing,. I believe, eighty monks.

In the village I frequently liear threats against them to the effect that they are living in luxury while the villagers slave and starve to help them in their idleness. A village in Spain consists principally of a large church, nearly always having a. fine tower on the lines of a Moorish minaret, with most of the villagers literally living in holes in the ground, i.e., in caves in the hillside fitted with a door. Guara Civile a Fine Body. The Guara Civile, a sort of police force, were the only force that one could rely on to l>e true to their salt, and they were a very fine lot, well disciplined and proud of their corps. One may think this a sweeping statement, but here is a sample which I saw with my own eyes not long before the monarchy fell. At each corner of the square where the palace stands in Madrid there are big horse boxes, very similar to those that have the mounted sentries in Whitehall. These were occupied by troops of a very smart Hussar regiment. His Majesty was apparently in residence. One trooper suddenly dashed out across the square to a woman who was peddling sausages, bought a big one, which lie halved, and took the other half over to his fellow sentry at the other corner, and then resumed his post. While the two of them had light refreshment before an interested crowd, the sergeant on duty watched, the whole proceeding, and apparently took it as a matter of course. For some time past a great many of the riffraff of Southern Spain have been migrating across the Straits to Tangier. From a casual look at them I should 6ay they were of the unemployable class ripe for mischief. Two-or three agitators

got going, and very soon there were meetings, and very amateur efforts at bombs where working men of other nationalities were employed. Deportation Comedy. Eventually things came to such a pass that one morning the Moorish head ordered the deportation of the 10 or 12 ringleaders. They were, quietly put on board the daily British mail boat and left for Gibraltar. Directly the news got round some hundred odd loafers came down to the quay and a good many of them rushed on board the Spanish boat just leaving for Algeciras (across the bay from Gibraltar) forced the captain to chase the Englishman with apparently some idea of rescuing the leaders. The fact that their quarry had the command of speed, and was also well under way, did not appear to have occurred to them. The result was that the first lot were marched across the lines by English police, and the second lot locked up in Algeciras —presumably to be released when the troubles broke out. This small rising was quelled by a few Moorish militia men without any fuss or bother, and excited mobs of Spaniards in the market places of Tangier were moved on by Moorish policemen just as quietly and efficiently as. if they had been tribesmen who had gathered in the town to talk business. All of which seems to me to prove that any fear or respect that the native had for the Spaniard is very much on the wane, if it has not disappeared altogether.—N.A.N. A.